Customs Officials Claim They Buy Azerbaijani Gas at Average $ 193

The export of the declared volumes of Azerbaijani gas in January-July 2020 amounted to 7 billion 713 million 270.62 thousand cubic meters, according to the monthly report of the State Customs Committee (SCC) of Azerbaijan.

“In January-July 2020, the export of declared gas from Azerbaijan amounted to $ 1.488 million 419.96 thousand. The share of gas exports in the reporting period accounted for 16.3% of the total export from Azerbaijan,” the report says.

According to the State Customs Committee, gas exports in January-July 2020 compared to the same period last year increased in quantitative terms by 14.9%, in monetary terms – by 17.9%.

Based on the data of the State Customs Committee, it can be calculated that this year Azerbaijan sold its gas outside the country on average $ 192.97 per 1,000 cubic meters.

However, this figure does not correspond in any way with the market prices of pipeline gas. For example, last week the Russian Gazprom published its financial results for the first half of the year. The average cost of Gazprom’s export gas in January-June 2020 amounted to $ 124 per thousand cubic meters, decreasing by 40.8% compared to the same period last year. The average cost of Gazprom’s export gas in 2019 decreased by 15% compared to the previous year and amounted to $ 189.3 per thousand cubic meters.
Earlier, Turkish officials have repeatedly stated that Turkey purchases Azerbaijani gas at a slightly lower rate than Russian gas. Therefore, it is difficult to understand where such a non-market price of Azerbaijani gas was formed in customs statistics in the current year.