Azerbaijan Ups Annual Exports to Georgia
The energy minister of Georgia Kakha Kaladze signed an agreement with state Socar of Azerbaijan to increase gas imports by over 500mn m³/yr.
The agreement was sealed during Socar president Rovnag Abdullaev's visit to Tbilisi on March 4.
Last year, Socar exported 1.3bn m3 of gas to Georgia. The UK major BP delivered under 800mn m3 of Shah Deniz gas, as transit fee for deliveries to Turkey through the South Caucasus Pipeline, which it operates. The SCP will deliver the additional gas to Georgia.
Georgia consumes 2.4bn m3/yr of gas, with the rest coming from Russia also as a transit fee, to cover deliveries to Armenia.
Azerbaijan exported 885.5mn m3 of gas in January, the Azerbaijan state customs committee reported. This was up by 41.47mn m³, or 4.9%, on January 2015. According to statistics, the average export price of Socar's gas stood at $188.53/'000m3 in January.
Separately, Azerbaijan promised to increase deliveries to Georgia by a further 50mn m3 for the balance of this winter, or about 1.5mn m³/d.
Iran desk