Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 13 / Trend /
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Iranian National Gas Export Company have signed a short-term contract for Azerbaijani gas supplies to Iran.
The contract envisages supplying Azerbaijani gas to Iran in the total amount of 100 million cubic meters (1.2 million cubic meters of gas per day) until March-April. Iran's north regions distant from major gas fields will be supplied with Azerbaijani gas.
The contract was signed by SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev and NIGEC Managing Director Seyed Reza Kasaei-Zadeh after talks held in Baku.
Azerbaijan and Iran are connected with the Kazi-Magomed-Astara pipeline gas pipeline. Its length is 1474.5 kilometers, with 296.5 kilometers covering the territory of Azerbaijan. Its capacity is 10 billion cubic meters per year. This route is a branch of the Gazakh-Astara-Iran pipeline, which was 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.