Georgia-Gazprom agree new deal under previous terms
10% gas in return for transit rights; no monetary compensation

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.