The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) informed Trend that refusal of Russia's gas import caused a considerable rise in the production of mazut at the oil refinery plants (ORP) of Azerbaijan.
In January 2007 a total of 290,000 tons of mazut was sent to the power grids of the country, among it, 281,000 tons of was the total output (9 tons was taken from ORP reserves). The total production of mazut rose 18.3% in January 2007 compared to last year.
Ever since January 2007, Azerbaijan has refused gas import from Russia due to a rise in prices twice over. In 2006 gas was supplied to Azerbaijan at a price of $110 per 1,000 cu m, whereas in 2007 Russia proposed to increase prices to $235 per 1,000 cu m.