The Georgian government is not going to look for the alternative to the Azerbaijani gas import, Deputy Minister of Energy of Georgia Marika Valiashvili told Georgian radio Kommersant.
“Theoretically we could import gas from Kazakhstan, but this is not going to happen, because of Russia,” she said. In May 2013 Georgian Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze said that Georgia is going to diversify gas deliveries and did not rule out that the Russian gas could become an alternative.
“We will do our best to make sure that we have two, three or four sources of gas import. The competition will bring the prices down. We are not going to stop Azerbaijani gas import. Azerbaijan has been and still is our strategic partner and we are happy to receive gas at a very good price. As far as other suppliers are concerned, they could be Russia and Kazakhstan. It is always good to have an alternative,” Kaladze said.
He added that SOCAR is among the biggest investors in Georgia, including the energy and social fields.
Baku-based office of SOCAR told Kommersant radio that it is a sovereign right of Georgia to look for the alternative sources of gas and Azerbaijan will understand any decision made by the government and continue delivering gas at the current price.
Thanks to a short-term contract with Azerbaijan, Georgia receives cheap gas.
The country is supplied with gas from four sources – 250,000,000 cub.m. at a transit price of $55.00 per 1000 cub.m. (via Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline), 500,000,000 cub.m. at a reduced price of $64.00 per 1000 cub.m. (sale of gas from the Shah-Deniz started in 2013), 150,000,000 cub.m.at the price of $100 per 1000 cub.m. as a fee for Russian gas transit to Armenia, another 500,000,000 cub.m. from Azerbaijan at a price of $189 per 1000 cub.m. (social gas) and 400,000,000 cub.m. for $240 per 1000 cub.m. (commercial gas).
