Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 9
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Gas export to Russia is not the goal of the SOCAR Company (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) the head of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said Sept. 9.
Earlier SOCAR stopped gas supplies to Russia due to work on the construction of the remaining section of the Baku-Guba-Russian border road and maintenance work on the gas transport infrastructure.
Abdullayev said that the contract between SOCAR and the Russian Gazprom allows suspending and resuming of gas supply at any time.
"Gas transmission and distribution systems of the country require reconstruction and renewal, and that applies to the northern regions of Azerbaijan as well. The volumes of gas injection into underground storage facilities of the country were also increased and gas supplies to Georgia are being provided in view of the growing demand," the head of the State Oil Company said.
"Right now, our main goal is to complete the repairs on the gas transmission system and transmission pipelines, so that there would be no problems with the supply of gas in winter. Gas supply in Russia will also be provided as soon as possible," Abdullayev said.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) exported about 100 million cubic meters of gas to Russia in the first half of 2014.
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.