Azerbaijan will purchase gas from Shah-Daniz

According to Karimov, in accordance with the agreement Azerbaijan will pay $52 per 1000 cu m, or cheaper than the Russian import gas and meets the country's interests. "We have recently signed an agreement with shareholders of Shahdaniz on purchase of gas at $52 per 1,000 cu m, starting from autumn of 2006 – the commencement of industrial production in this field," Karimov underlined.

According to Karimov, thanks to BP's confirmation on the existence of 1 trillion cu m of gas in Shahdaniz, Azerbaijan in agreement with the partners in the project increased the initial amount of purchase till to 3 billion cu m a year starting from 2007 from 1.5 billion cu m as it was originally planned.

"Following a rise in production from Shah-Daniz our stake in gas purchase will increase depending on the level of production," the minister said.