Azerbaijan says it can't guarantee gas supplies to Georgia next year

Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev said a day after talks with his Georgian counterpart that the oil-rich Caspian Sea state might need the gas for itself.

"We can't give a concrete reply yet because we don't know yet what Azerbaijan's energy balance will be next year," Aliyev said.

He said that both Azerbaijan and Georgia were counting on gas supplies from BP PLC's 400 billion cubic-meter Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian, which is due to come online at year's end.

Azerbaijan currently imports between 4 billion and 4.5 billion cubic meters a year from Russia's Gazprom monopoly, which supplies all of Georgia's gas needs. The Associated Press

/The International Herald Tribune/