Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 3
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) temporarily halted gas exports to Russia due to the repair and construction works, the management of SOCAR gas Export Company told Trend Sept.3.
Gas exports to Russia suspended due to the construction of the remaining section of the Baku-Guba-Russian border road, as well as repair works on most of the gas transportation infrastructure, the management said.
Terms of the resumption of gas supply are not revealed.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) exported about 100 million cubic meters of gas to Russia in the first half of 2014, a source in SOCAR told Trend on July 30.
SOCAR exported 876 million cubic meters of gas to Russia in the first half of 2013.
Azerbaijani gas is supplied to Russia on the basis of the contract on the purchase and sale of Azerbaijani gas with a possibility of extension. The deal was signed between SOCAR and Russia's Gazprom in Baku on October 14, 2009.
The decline in export volumes is connected with the previous repair on the gas pipeline stretching from Azerbaijan to Russia. Gas supplies were suspended in January and restored in June 2014, according to the statement.
SOCAR exported 1.37 billion cubic meters of gas to Russia in 2013.
Gazprom was to receive two billion cubic meters of gas in 2011 and over two billion cubic meters in 2012, in accordance with a 2010 supplement to the contract. However, the Russian side did not get the full amount of the planned volume as of 2012.
The additional agreement to double the volume of Azerbaijani gas purchased by Russia, from 1.5 billion cubic meters to 3 billion cubic meters, was signed by both sides in Sochi on January 24, 2012.