Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Today, Azerbaijan completely provides itself with gas and does not have intentions to import gas from other countries. Azerbaijani oil and gas experts said to Trend on 4 August that even if Gazprom (Russian gas supplying company) retains gas prices in 2008 the same for the CIS countries, Azerbaijan will not import the fuel.
" Azerbaijan has enough gas both to meet its needs and to export," the experts said.
Azerbaijan is currently implementing a program on increase of production of its own gas in the fields developed by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) independently. According to the forecast, this year SOCAR will produce over 5.8bln cu m of gas.
Moreover, Azerbaijan also produces gas from Shah Deniz field and casing-head gas from Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field both developed by the Azerbaijani International Operating Company. According to the forecast, Azerbaijan will receive 1.62bln cu m of gas from Shah Deniz and 3bln from Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli.
Azerbaijan suspended import of Russian gas at the beginning of 2007, when the price for gas was raised over two times to $235 per 1,000 cu m. Last month Azerbaijan offered Russia its gas for sale at the price of $230 per 1,000 cu m.
Besides internal consumption, Azerbaijan is supplying gas to Georgia (some 1.5mln cu m per 24 hours).