'Georgia to receive natural gas from Azerbaijan'

AMMAN — The government of Georgia on Monday said it has reached an agreement with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR company to receive natural gas, thus overcoming gas supply shortages.

Foreign Minister Micheil Janelidze said, the Georgian government conducted "long and open negotiations" to ensure the "stable and uninterrupted supplies" of natural gas.

These efforts led to the signing of an agreement with SOCAR last week, which ensures the supply of additional amounts of natural gas, necessary for covering the deficit, the minister said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

As a result of the agreements reached with SOCAR, there is no need to buy additional amounts from Russia’s Gazprom Export, said Janelidze.

SOCAR agreed to supply 463 million cubic metres of gas a year to Georgia, in addition to the volumes already sold, according to AzerNews.

The minister added that negotiations with Gazprom were conducted on the terms of the transit of natural gas from Russia to Armenia, through Georgian owned infrastructure.

These negotiations have been conducted every year, since 2004, as the transit contract is annual, he explained.

At the same time, the negotiations included the possibility of supplies of the amounts of natural gas needed for the coverage of the deficit, in case it was not possible through other sources.

Accordingly, an agreement with Gazprom on the continuation of a transit contract on existing terms was reached and will be signed in the coming days, he said. 

“Georgia will get natural gas for the transit of gas to Armenia and no additional amounts of gas will be purchased from Gazprom by Georgia,” he said.