Gazprom denies information on gas price supply to Georgia

The President of the Georgian company Energy Invest, Geno Malazonia, has been quoted by foreign media as saying the gas price for Georgia could be raised from the current $110 per 1.000 cubic meters, to $170-250 as of 2007.

However, Gazprom denied the reports by saying: "Gazprom has not started official negotiations on gas supplies to Georgia in 2007."

The media also quoted Malazonia as saying his company wanted to buy 500-600 million cubic meters of gas next year, while Georgia's total annual consumption is estimated at 1.7 billion cubic meters.

Georgia's traditional gas supplier is Russia, but supplies were disrupted in January after pipeline explosions in southern Russia, which left Georgia struggling for heating supplies amid record low temperatures.

To meet its natural gas needs, Georgia turned to Azerbaijan and fellow Caspian Sea state Iran until Russia resumes supplies. Makfax