Bulgartransgaz EAD Project (DFC-BULGARTRANSGAZ)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Bulgaria
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Chiren
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
  • US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Bulgartransgaz EAD
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
Not Disclosed
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ DFC website

Updated in EWS Nov 6, 2023

Disclosed by Bank Aug 14, 2023

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the DFC, The proceeds of the Loan will be used to finance the expansion of the Chiren underground gas storage facility in Bulgaria from a current active gas volume of 550 million cubic meters to an active gas volume of 1 billion cubic meters.

The Project consists of: (i) above ground facilities consisting of a compressor station, new gas metering station, and auxiliary equipment, including procurement of the necessary materials and equipment, construction and commissioning; (ii) a 41km pipeline connecting the Project to the rest of the Bulgarian gas transmission network, including investment design, procurement of the necessary materials and equipment, construction and commissioning; [and (iii) underground facilities consisting of ten wells for the injection and withdrawal of the stored gas, and three observation wells to monitor the conditions of the UGS, including spatial planning, investment design, procurement of the necessary materials and equipment, construction and commissioning.]

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Investment information not provided at the time of disclosure.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Bulgartransgaz EAD is an independent natural gas transmission and storage system operator of Bulgaria, 100% owned by Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD, a state owned energy holding company 100% owned by the Ministry of Energy of Bulgaria. The client owns and operates 3,276 km of gas transmission network and 550 mcm of underground gas storage.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD Parent Company Energy owns Bulgartransgaz EAD Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Location of Local Access to Project Information:

Chiren Town Hall, Vratsa Municipality, Bulgaria

Borrower - BULGARTRANSGAZ EAD:

Address: Lyulin 2 residential district, 66 Pancho Vladigerov Blvd., 1336 Sofia
Phone: (+359 2) 939 63 00
Fax: (359 2) 925 00 63
Website: www.bulgartransgaz.bg

Contractor - UGS CHIREN-ENGINEERING DZZD:

Address: Sofia, 1359, Lyulin 5 residential district, bl. 552, entr. B, floor 5, apt. 18
Phone: (+359) 878 606 360
Phone: (+359) 899 175 654

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

Unlike many other development finance institutions, DFC does not currently have an access to information policy.

Under the United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DFC is obliged to respond to reasonably formulated requests for Agency records. However, DFC may apply exemptions from release to certain types of information and may charge fees in responding to requests. DFC has a designated FOIA officer who is trained in how to respond to requests and implement the law. You can learn more about filing a FOIA request at: https://www.dfc.gov/foia

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF THE UNITED STATES INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FINANCE CORPORATION (DFC)

The Office of Accountability is an independent office that addresses complaints about environmental or social issues related to DFC-supported projects. The office provides communities an opportunity to have concerns independently reviewed and addressed. If you submit a complaint to the Office of Accountability, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a problem solving dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the DFC complied with its policies to prevent environmental, social, human rights, and labor harms.

You can find more information about the Office of Accountability at: https://www.dfc.gov/who-we-are/office-accountability

How it works

How it works