Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (“BSTDB”) regarding an up to €90.5m loan granted to Energean Oil & Gas S.A. (“Energean”), as well an associated guarantee to be provided by the Greek State for up to 90% of the total committed investment, to develop the Prinos Basin offshore of Greece.
The loan will fund Energean’s further investment in the Epsilon, Prinos North and Prinos operating oil fields in Sea of Thrace off the coast of northern Greece between the port of Kavala and the island of Thasos, as well as support the company’s working capital needs and finalise their structural expenditure on the Prinos infrastructure complex.
The Prinos development programme aims to create jobs for suppliers of goods and services in the drilling and construction industries in addition to maintaining livelihoods in key Greek businesses amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
BSTDB is an international financial institution with headquarters in Thessaloniki, Greece. With €3.45bn authorised capital the bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing loans, credit lines, equity and guarantees for projects and trade financing in the public and private sectors in its member countries. Its members comprise Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Established in 2007, Energean – Greece’s only oil and gas producer – has grown to become the leading independent, gas-focussed E&P company in the Eastern Mediterranean. The company explores and invests in new ideas, concepts and solutions to produce energy efficiently, at low cost and with a low carbon footprint.
The WFW London Projects team advising BSTDB was led by Energy Partner Joe Levin with assistance from Associate Victoria Gow and Trainees Jen O’Donoghue and Patrick O’Rourke.
Joe commented: “We are delighted to have advised BSTDB on this financing to help Energean continue to develop the Prinos Basin, which will contribute to long-term economic growth in Greece, as we did previously in 2018. Being instructed on this deal highlights once again WFW’s standing as a ‘go-to law’ firm advising multilateral banks on complex financings in the upstream sector and beyond”.
BSTDB’s Greek counsel was Karatzas and Partners, led by Partner Valia Apostolopoulou and their Cypriot counsel Harneys, led by Partner George Apostolou. Energean were advised by White & Case.
