Georgia to rely more on gas from Azerbaijan, refusing purchase of Russian gas

The 970,000 GEL gasification project was financed by the state budget. SOCAR Georgia Gas will be responsible for gas provision. Photo by the Ministry of Energy
Agenda.ge, 04 Jan 2018 - 14:50, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgia’s natural gas balance for 2018 is approved and it shows Georgia will not purchase natural gas from Russia this year.

According to the balance, Georgia is completely switching to gas supply from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and the consortium for the development of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field will be the suppliers of gas to Georgia in 2018.

More specifically, Georgia will receive 2.680 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan, 1.866 billion cubic meters from SOCAR, 813.9 million cubic meters from Shah Deniz and 9.4 million cubic meters will be locally mined.

Georgia used to receive 10 percent of Russian gas transited to Armenia as payment for transiting via its territory. In 2016, the extension of the contract was delayed until April, since Gazprom insisted on monetary payment for transit.

Under the agreement reached between the Georgian Energy Minister and Russian energy giant Gazprom at the end of 2016, starting from 2017, Georgia will be paid for gas transit to Armenia in cash.