Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 12 / Trend T. Jafarov /
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) and National Iranian Gas Export Company plan to sign a short-term contract for Azerbaijani gas supplies to Iran, Iran's ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Bagir Behrami told trend Capital today.
This decision was made as a result of the talks held in Baku between SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev and NIGEC managing director Seyed Reza Kasaei-Zadeh.
The contract envisages Azerbaijani gas supplies to Iran to the total amount of 100 million cubic meters till late March. Iran's north regions distant from major gas fields will be supplied with Azerbaijani gas.
Azerbaijan and Iran are connected with the Kazi-Magomed-Astara pipeline gas pipeline. Its length is 1474.5 kilometers, including the territory of Azerbaijan - 296.5 kilometers. Its capacity is 10 billion cubic meters per year. This route is a branch of the pipeline Gazakh-Astara-Iran, put into operation in 1971. Three compressor stations in Kazi-Magomed, Agdash and Gazakh have been built. Pipe diameter is 1,200 mm.
Modernization of gas infrastructure will allow to supply about 5 million cubic meters of the Azerbaijani gas per day (about 1.8 billion cubic meters per year) to Iran.
Now the infrastructure allows to deliver about 500 million cubic meters of gas per year.
According to BP, gas production hit 116.3 billion cubic meters while using 117 billion cubic meters in 2008.