Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.27 / Trend , E. Ismayilov /
Azerbaijan and Greece are preparing an agreement for Azerbaijani gas export to Greece via Turkey, head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said.
"We have held talks with the Greek company DEPA. The agreement is under preperation. In this regard there is great progress", Abdullayev said.
He said talks on capabilities, amount and joint cooperation in gas supply have been held with the Italian company Edison.
Azerbaijan needs diversified routes of gas supplies, Abdullayev said. The country already has benefits from the policy of diversified gas supply policy. In particular, now the republic exports gas to Iran, Russia, Georgia and Turkey.
He said expansion of existing infrastructure in these directions will increase the gas supplies.
"Now everything depends on us. We must expand its infrastructure to increase gas supplies to Iran, Russia and Georgia," Abdullayev said.
At present, the company considers other routes of gas supplies via Turkey, in particular, such as TransAdriatik Pipeline (TAP), ITGI, and Nabucco.
"In this case we are guided by commercial principles. We should sell our gas to market at a high price and it is the desire of any producer," Abdullayev said.
He said talks on the gas issue between Azerbaijan and Turkey also are continuing. The package considers the agreement for the transit of Azerbaijani gas via Turkey, as well as prices and amount of gas in the first and second stages of the Shah Deniz field development for Turkey.
Abdullayev said defined agreement have been reached on the gas prices for Turkey within the first stage of the Shah Deniz field development. However, SOCAR representatives said earlier that all the issues are considered in one package and that's why coordination one of the issues does not speak about the achievement of full agreement on the entire package.
"Defined agreement on gas prices in the first stage [ "Shah Deniz"] already exists. They are oral. On the final result we will be able to speak only after coordination issues on amount and price in the second stage, and issue on conditions and the price of gas transit via Turkey, which is important for us", Abdullayev said.
Presently, Turkey receives the Azerbaijani gas at a price of $120 per 1000 cubic meters.
The contract for 'Purchase-Sale' concluded between the partners of Shah Deniz project and Turkey stipulates that the cost of Azerbaijani gas from this field can be reviewed in a year after supplies are launched, i.e. a new price will be introduced since April 15, 2008.
Under the current contract, Turkey must receive 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas from Shah Deniz in the first stage of the field's development.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil Hydro - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.