Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.16
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) delivered 295 million cubic meters of gas to Iran within swap operations in Jan.-Oct. 2014, a source at SOCAR told Trend on Nov.14.
Gas is delivered to Iran in order to meet the gas demands of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic which is in the blockade due to occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands by Armenia.
The source said that the volume of gas deliveries to Iran will reach around 400 million cubic meters by late 2014.
Taking into account that cold months are still ahead and gas consumption will grow in these months, the mentioned volume of gas will be delivered, according to the source.
Around 400 million cubic meters of gas was delivered from Azerbaijan to Iran in 2012 and 2013 each, in order to meet the demands of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
Azerbaijan and Iran are connected by the Gazi-Muhammad-Astara-Bind-Biand gas pipeline with the length of over 1,474 kilometers. Some 296.5 kilometers of this pipeline runs through Azerbaijan.
This route is a branch of the Gazakh-Astara-Iran pipeline commissioned in 1971. Three compressor stations were built on its route, namely, in Gazi-Muhammad, Aghdash and Gazakh. The diameter of the pipeline is 1,200 millimeters.
Iran has repeatedly expressed intention to purchase up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan per year.