Gazprom intends to increase purchase of Azerbaijani gas by 1.5 times - up to 3 billion cubic meters compared to the planned 2 billion cubic meters for 2011, the company said.
A corresponding agreement was reached at a working meeting of Gazprom Board Chairman Alexei Miller and President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev on Thursday.
"According to preliminary data, in November Gazprom increased purchase of Azerbaijani gas by 70 percent compared to 2010 and it amounted to 1.36 billion cubic meters," the report says.
Following the meeting, Miller and Abdullayev stated that mutually beneficial partnership of companies is a huge contribution to strengthening the strategic cooperation between the two countries.
The medium-term contract on purchase-sale of Azerbaijani gas to Russia (with the possibility of extension) was signed between SOCAR and Gazprom in Baku Oct. 14. Azerbaijan launched gas supplies to Russia Jan.1, 2010 in accordance with the agreement on export of Azerbaijani gas to Russia in 2010-2015 with its possible extension. . In 2010 SOCAR exported 799.75 million cubic meters of gas to Russia, the plan for 2011 is 2 billion cubic meters.
Azerbaijan has proven natural gas reserves of about 1.5 trillion cubic meters, including the Shah-Deniz field, located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, with the estimated reserves of about 1.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.
SOCAR is the largest state oil company of Azerbaijan. It deals with exploration, extraction, refining, transportation and sale of oil, natural gas and gas condensate.