Georgia-Gazprom agree new deal under previous terms
10% gas in return for transit rights; no monetary compensation
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Russian energy giant Gazprom has accepted Georgia’s offer and agreed to sign a new deal that honours the old terms, meaning Georgia will receive 10 percent of the natural gas that transits through the country to Armenia instead of monetary compensation.
The contract text has been already prepared and the Georgian Government will approve it at the next Governmental meeting.
The agreement implies that we are still under the terms of the previous contract and Georgia will receive 10 percent of the natural gas transit,” Georgia’s Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze told reporters.
Georgia held three rounds of negotiations with Gazprom in Austria’s capital Vienna after its annual contract expired. All three rounds ended without success as Gazprom wanted to monetise its transit fee and see Georgia pay cash for its gas instead of the country receiving 10 percent of the gas transported to Armenia via Georgia. Kaladze said Gazprom’s offer was "unfavourable” for Georgia.
The nature of negotiations changed in early March when SOCAR President and Kaladze signed an agreement to increase the amount of gas Azerbaijan supplied to Georgia.
After securing additional gas supplies from Azerbaijan and deepening the energy partnership with Azerbaijan, Georgia offered Gazprom to continue with the old terms of agreement.
Russia has already signed the new deal while Georgia will sign it in the near future.
10% gas in return for transit rights; no monetary compensation
Georgia has reached a verbal agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom to continue cooperating as it did in the past, meaning Georgia will receive 10 percent of the natural gas that transits through the country to Armenia instead of monetary compensation.
Georgia offers Russia’s Gazprom to continue with old terms
"The Government of Georgia provided the best conditions for a continuous gas supply and energy security,” says Georgia’s Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze while commenting on the recently signed Georgia-SOCAR deal.
Georgia will overcome its natural gas supply deficit thanks to a new deal with Azerbaijani’s national oil company SOCAR.
Azerbaijan is increasing the amount of natural gas it supplies to Georgia almost two-fold. Georgia will receive an additional 500 million cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan, Georgia's main gas supplier, bringing the amount it receives to 1.3 billion cubic metres (m3) per year.
Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR is increasing its natural gas supply to Georgia this winter by at least 50 million cubic meters.
Georgia’s Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze departs for Austria’ capital Vienna today to held the next round of negotiations with Russian energy giant Gazprom.
The US Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly believes Georgia should not be dependent on one source of energy.
Monetary compensation in return for transit rights
Georgia will shift to a system of financial compensation with Russian energy giant Gazprom for the transit of Russian gas through Georgia into Armenia.