5, 5 billion m2 of gas was expected to be purchased from Russia this year, but due to the increased prices Azerbaijan could purchase only 4, 5 billion m2 of Russian gas, Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy, Natik Aliyev told Trend.
A decision was taken due to this fact to step up the accompanying gas supplies from Azeri field by the State Oil Company (SOCAR) from 1,4 billion m2 to 3 billion m2. This gas has to be inserted into the oilfield layer to keep the layer pressure in norm.
AMOK in its turn started negotiations to sign a contract for the deep laying free gas extraction from Azeri-Chiraq-Guneshli field. The talks are supervised by the SOCAR, Aliyev said.