Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 24
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
At present, replacing of Azerbaijani gas by Russian gas is out of the question in Georgia, the Georgian media quoted Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze Oct. 24 as saying.
He said that Georgia intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan, including SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) in the future.
"There are no negotiations about the replacement of the Azerbaijani gas by the Russian gas," he said. "The matter rests in only additional volumes necessary for the country and the market today. The additional volumes have been bought in Russia for many years. But at present, various people try to turn this in a political problem that allegedly Georgia is trying to replace Azerbaijan. It is a lie. We have been cooperating with Azerbaijan for many years, and this cooperation will continue in the future as well," said the minister.
Kaladze said earlier that gas consumption grows in Georgia every year, and therefore the gas supplied by Azerbaijan is not enough. Therefore, the Georgian side intends to hold talks on gas supplies with the Russian "Gazprom".
In this regard, the general director of SOCAR Georgia Mahir Mammadov said that Azerbaijan almost completely meets the needs of Georgia in gas.
He said that Azerbaijan supplies to Georgia nearly 6 million cubic meters of gas a day (at a daily consumption of 6.2 million cubic meters).
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