Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 June / Trend / Gazprom assesses the signing of contract with Azerbaijan on the purchase of gas as 'quite possible', Aleksey Miller, chairman of the Board of Directors of the large gas monopolist Gazprom said in the annual meeting of the shareholders.
"We have held talks with Azerbaijan on the purchase of a gas. Given the current gas transport infrastructure and our readiness to purchase gas at the market prices, we assess the signing of the contract with Azerbaijan as quite possible," Miller said.
The proposals on the purchase of the Azerbaijani gas at the market prices in line with the long-term agreement were made at the early June 2008 in Miller's meeting with the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during Gazrpom delegation's visit to Azerbaijan.
Miller stressed the interest in the development of the mutually beneficial cooperation between Gazprom and Azerbaijan in energy sphere.
The oil output in Azerbaijan will exceed 15bln cu m in 2008. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will produce 8bln cu m of gas due to its own resources in 2008. The foreign partners will produce 7.7bln cu m of gas in Shah Deniz contract field. The gas is transported via South Causcasus gas pipeline. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are the purchasers of the fuel from Shah Deniz field.
According to Miller, the new quality of Gazprom's activities in the shareholder's meeting was the rise in the company's production and the active part of the gas of the other producers in the balance of the company.
"Gazprom is becoming not only large natural gas producer, but also large international player on deals on purchase and sale of gas. For the last years, we have been successfully cooperating with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the purchase of all gas volumes accessible for Gazprom. It enables to optimize the logistics of the supplies," Miller said.
According to Miller, in 2007 Gazprom extended some of current contracts and signed new long-term contracts on gas supply.
Miller also noted the need to transfer to work on the European prices.
The total volume of the gas sale of Gazprom totaled to 576.4bln cu m in 2007.
In 2007, the revenues from the export of the tank gas amounted to $39.5bln.
According to Miller, given the rise in the export prices of a gas, the revenues are forecast to make up about $64bln in 2008.