16 bln cubic metres of gas deposits discovered near Georgian capital Tbilisi
Giorgi Tatishvili said the discovered resource - identified in an unspecified location by the oilfield services company Schlumberger - was equal to eight-year gas consumption in the country. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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A natural gas field with a volume of 16 billion cubic metres has been discovered near the Georgian capital city of Tbilisi, Giorgi Tatishvili, the Head of the State Oil and Gas Agency, told local media outlet BMG on Monday.
Tatishvili said the discovered resource - identified in an unspecified location by the oilfield services company Schlumberger - was equal to eight-year gas consumption in the country.
The official added Block Energy company was the current licence holder for the area, with shares traded on the London Stock Exchange. The company's main field of activity is oil and gas exploration in Georgia, and it owns the right to extract resources from two blocks. The license requires horizontal drilling, with Block Energy expected to start working on the project late this year or early 2023.
Horizontal drilling should be done here to cover more rock and extract more commercial gas. At the same time, Block Energy is doing horizontal drilling in old wells, which has led to an increase in gas extraction by 80 percent. Block Energy facilitates a withdrawal of 30 million cubic metres, which is equal to the consumption of, for example, Telavi or Sagarejo [a city and a town in Georgia’s east]. After this well is mastered, these numbers will be much more important and impressive”, Tatishvili said.
The main supplier of gas to Georgia is Azerbaijan, however Georgia’s gas purchases from Russia have been growing for four years, jumping 44 percent by volume in 2021 to levels not seen since before the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. Meanwhile, deliveries from Azerbaijan fell by 32 percent last year, according to figures from Georgia’s National Statistics Office.
According to statistics, Georgia imported Russian gas worth $77 million in 2021, which is a 108 percent increase year-on-year. In return, natural gas imports from Azerbaijan fell by 2.4 percent to $256 million.
If in 2020 the share of Russian natural gas was 12.2 percent in total imports, the figure reached 23.1 percent in 2021.
Natural gas reserves in Georgia’s Black Sea shelf and exploration works planned by OMV Petrom, the largest energy company in Southern and Eastern Europe, were discussed at a meeting between Levan Davitashvili, Georgia’s Economy Minister, and the company delegation on Wednesday.
David Narmania, the Head of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission, on Tuesday said there was “no basis” for increasing tariffs for electricity and natural gas in the country.
Georgia’s energy dependence on Russia is "not very high” with Azerbaijan being the country’s main supplier of gas, Davit Narmania, the Head of the Georgian National Energy and Water Supply Regulatory Commission told local media outlet bpn.ge on Thursday.
Air pollution in Georgia contributed to more than 4,000 lives lost, while its economic costs were estimated at $560 million, or 3% of gross domestic product (GDP), reads the World Bank report 'Georgia: Towards Green and Resilient Growth, that estimates losses associated with pollution and degradation of agricultural and forest land and coastal zones.
A new three-year plan of natural gas delivery to communities has been approved by the Government, with the move expected to bring access to 39,698 subscribers in 244 communities across the country between 2022-2024, the Government Administration announced on Tuesday.