Azerbaijan mulls buying Iranian gas

Industry and Energy Minister Natiq Aliyev told reporters at the Xazarneftqazyataq-2006 international conference on Caspian oil and gas deposits that Azerbaijan might buy 1.5 billion to 2 billion cubic meters of gas from Iran in 2007, the Turan news agency reported Wednesday.

He said talks with Russia were focused on this volume of gas, but it was unclear how the negotiations would proceed because of the terms of Russian gas imports and the price of Russian gas.

Despite its vast gas reserves - estimated at 30 trillion cubic feet by the Oil and Gas Journal - the lack of an infrastructure compels it to flare off much of the natural gas instead of importing it.

"As a result, Azerbaijan is currently importing roughly four times more natural gas than it was in 2001," says the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Department of Energy's data arm.

Azerbaijan imports some 160 billion cubic feet per year from Russia at $1.70 per 1,000 cubic feet, up from $1.47 per mcf in 2004. UPI

/www.arabonline.org/