Azerbaijan, Baku, August 14 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) will complete operations on upgrading the gas compression station in Astara to increase amount of the Azerbaijani gas transport to Iran by late 2010, a source in the oil and gas market said Aug.13. Previously it was supposed that the reconstruction of the station required to increase the amount of gas transportation to Iran, will be completed by September.
"Operations on the expansion of the station are underway and their completion is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2010," the source said.
Today SOCAR also conducts works to achieve long-term contract with the Iranian side. However, although there is a desire to supply large amounts of gas lack of the necessary infrastructure prevents these goals. The technical state of the gas-transport infrastructure between the two countries prevents transport of large amount of gas today to the southern direction, despite the fact that the Iranian side wants to buy about five billion cubic meters of the Azerbaijani gas per year.
At present, SOCAR is expanding capacity of the gas compressor station in Astara to increase gas supplies to Iran. The Company will also reconstruct the gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Iran. After the completion of the works scheduled for the autumn, it s expected to conclude a contract for long-term supplies and increase of amounts to 3-3,5 million cubic meters per day from the current 1.2 million cubic meters. Azerbaijan's gas to Iran is transported based on swap operations to meet the needs of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which is under a blockade as a result of occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia.