Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 11
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The SOCAR company (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) has no plans to increase gas tariffs for the population of Georgia, head of SOCAR Energy Georgia (a subsidiary of SOCAR in Georgia) Mahir Mammadov told Trend.
He said that SOCAR and the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation signed a contract that covers all kinds of social consumption of gas.
"It regulates the tariff for natural gas as well," Mammadov said. "The revision of this contract in the near future is not planned. Regarding the commercial use of gas, we are thinking about it due to the devaluation of the national currency of Georgia [GEL]. Nevertheless, the decision about it has not yet been accepted."
Currently, the tariff for natural gas for the population in Tbilisi is 0.4562 lari ($0.19) per cubic meter, and from 0.4 lari (about $0.17) to 0.5 lari (about $0.21) per cubic meter in the regions.
The price of natural gas for commercial customers of SOCAR Georgia Gas is 0.84 lari ($0.35) per cubic meter.
SOCAR and the Georgian government signed an agreement to transfer control of 30 gas distribution facilities and gas distribution networks covering such regions of Georgia as Kakheti, Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Shida and Kvemo Kartli, Adjara, Guria, Imereti, Samegrelo on December 26, 2008.
The list of gas distribution facilities was then expanded. Earlier, all these facilities were eliminated and seven regional gas facilities were created under SOCAR.
Azerbaijan provides more than 80 percent of the gas consumed by Georgia.
Edited by CN
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