Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.13 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
Georgian Energy Minister, Alexander Khetaguri will discuss participation of SOCAR (a state oil company of Azerbaijan) in the establishment of underground gas storage facilities in Georgia during his visit to Baku, head of SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, said on Aug.13. At present Khetaguri is on a visit in Baku, Georgian Embassy to Azerbaijan said.
"Today [Aug.13], Georgian Energy Minister will be here and one of the topics to be discussed is precisely this issue," Abdullayev said.
According to Abdullayev, SOCAR still intends to participate in the construction of underground gas storage facilities in Georgia. "We are continuing to negotiate with the Georgian Government on this issue," Abdullayev added.
According to Abdullayev, the main part of imported gas to Georgia falls to SOCAR. The company supplies 75 percent of the market and in the future the company is likely to increase the share of participation in the market. "Therefore, the presence of gas storage with a capacity of 300 million cubic meters will impact our business positively," Abdullayev added.
A tender was announced earlier to design the Georgian gas storage, which is to be built on the base of the field previously producing oil and gas.
"We have offered SOCAR to participate in this project and the company took interest. The company can take part in this project if remains interested after the completion of the designing work," Khetaguri said earlier in Baku.
Construction of gas storage includes three phases: the first - the capacity of storing 450 million cubic meters, the second - 1.5 billion cubic meters and the third - 5 billion cubic meters.
The second and third phases are considered on a regional scale. If Azerbaijan wants to preserve its gas for its further transit to Europe through the South Caucasus gas pipeline and Nabucco, it may use this storage, Khetaguri said.
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