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Lowering Azerbaijani gas prices for Greece impossible - SOCAR

Oil&Gas Materials 16 February 2015 20:11 (UTC +04:00)
Currently, it is impossible to reduce for Greece the price of Azerbaijan’s gas, which will be purchased and delivered to that country via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Lowering Azerbaijani gas prices for Greece impossible - SOCAR

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Currently, it is impossible to reduce for Greece the price of Azerbaijan's gas, which will be purchased and delivered to that country via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), a senior representative of Azerbaijan's State Oil Company (SOCAR) told reporters Feb. 16.

He said that first of all, such a decline in prices doesn't correspond to international practice.

"When a contract is signed for 25 years, it stipulates a change in gas prices in the case of a sudden change in market situation. But this happens only after the gas begins to flow. The gas has not yet begun to flow, and, naturally, speaking of changes in prices makes no sense," he said.

SOCAR's senior representative also said the reduction in purchase prices depends neither on the Greek side nor on Azerbaijan.

"The price component in the contract was signed by a Greek company and a consortium of all companies that were negotiating for gas supplies to Greece. A mechanism was developed and signed between the Greek company and the so-called negotiating group on exports. After the contract was signed, the group ceased to exist, so there is no one to negotiate with," he said.

Talking about Greece's demand to raise the tariffs for transit of Azerbaijani gas through its territory, the SOCAR representative said this issue should be addressed at the EU level.

Earlier, the Greek Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Environment and Energy Panagiotis Lafazanis said the government supports the construction of TAP, but believes that the benefit, which the country can get from the natural gas transit through its territory, is not sufficient

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. This project is aimed at diversification of routes and sources of energy supply and thereby increases EU's energy security.

It envisages the delivery of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to Europe.

The gas to be produced as part of the second stage of the field's development will be exported to Turkey and European markets through the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

The first volume of gas from the Shah Deniz-2 will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and Europe in 2019.

Edited by CN

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov

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