Azerbaijan, Baku, April 6 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Greece is to become the first European country to which Azerbaijan will export its gas directly, President of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said.
Earlier SOCAR and the Greek National Gas Company DEPA signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
The Azerbaijani gas has been exported to Greece through the Turkish state pipeline company Botas since 2007, Abdullayev said. However, today SOCAR and DEPA are in talks on the diversion of the contracts between Turkey and Greece for direct gas export by SOCAR.
About 700 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas is shipped to Greece annually.
Following the contract's signing, Azerbaijan will sell its gas without an intermediary. The transfer will be the country's first direct gas transport to Europe, Abdullayev said.