BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 24. The talks between the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Turkish Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS) on the extension of Azerbaijani gas supplies through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) gas pipeline kicks off, an informed source told Trend.
"The mid-term contract on supplying 11 billion cubic meters of gas to Türkiye through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline signed in 2021 between SOCAR and BOTAS from September 2021 until the end of 2024 expires. Negotiations on continuing the usage of this pipeline to deliver Azerbaijani gas to Türkiye are underway," the source said.
He refrained from commenting on the details of the negotiations but didn't exclude that the average annual volume of gas supplies through the BTE will be at the level of three-four billion cubic meters per year.
According to the contract valid from September 2021 until the end of 2024, Türkiye received 800 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan from the Shah Deniz gas field from September through December 2021.
The mid-term contract envisaged the delivery of 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, and also 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas in 2024.
"New terms, volumes, and dates, for BTE will be agreed upon by SOCAR, bp, and BOTAS," the source added.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline has been in operation since 2007 and transported about six billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Shah Deniz gas field up to 2021.