SOCAR is interested in privatizing Georgian section of Russia-Armenia gas pipeline

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) considers the possibility to use existing gas pipelines on  the Georgian territory, including the Georgian section of pipeline that exports Russian gas to Armenia, for gas transit, the SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev said in talks held with Georgian Energy Minister Alexander Khetaguri and head of the Oil and Gas Corporation, Zurab Janjgava, SOCAR said.

Abdullayev expressed confidence that using the existing infrastructure in Georgia will accelerate the implementation of the project Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romanian Interconnector (AGRI), which envisages supplying Azerbaijani liquefied gas through Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania.

According to head of SOCAR, if the Georgian government decides on the privatization of the pipeline that exports Russian gas to Armenia, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan can make an interest in these assets.

At the meetings with Khetaguri and Janjava, they had wide discussions over the intention to increase activeness in the strategic energy projects and steps take toward this, as well as opportunities for soonest implementation of AGRI project.

The SOCAR president and Georgian officials focused attention on the topical issues of gas supply to the regions of the country, connecting new subscribers to the gas network, gas supply of the Georgian consumers in autumn-winter season. Abdullayev said measures in this direction would be continued further.

He also discussed with the Georgian officials the SOCAR projects, extension of gas distribution network, SOCAR's participation in oil supply to the Georgian markets, transit of Azerbaijan's oil products via Georgia. The Georgian officials highly appreciated the SOCAR's activity in these fields and pointed out the company's important role in the Georgian energy market.

Three capacity volumes are being considered for the project: 2 billion cubic meters of gas a year, 5 billion cubic meters and 8 billion cubic meters, Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said earlier. According to preliminary data, the cost varies from 1.2 billion to 4.5 billion euros depending on capacity.

Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed the Baku Declaration on AGRI project in Baku Sept. 14. The project envisages transporting Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to the Black Sea coast of Georgia, where the gas will be liquefied at a special terminal. The gas will then be delivered to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta via tankers.


/Trend/