Georgia Says No to Russian Gas

Georgia will take no gas from Russia this year, not even in part-payment for transit, the the economy and sustainable development ministry said January 4. Instead all its imports will come from Azerbaijan.

Georgia had amended the condition of gas transit fees for Russian giant Gazprom’s gas flow to Armenia in early 2017, which was paid in a mix of gas and cash. Before 2017, Georgia received 10% of the Russian gas flow to Armenia as payment.

Georgia also purchased a little more than 100 mn m³ gas from Russia in last spring when Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field paused production for 10 days. In total, Tbilisi imported 185mn m³ of Russian gas – including transit fee – in 2017, which was a 28.1% decline on 2016.

Georgia’s gas plan for 2018

The country plans to increase gas use in 2018 by 4.1% year-on-year to about 2.69bn m³, of which 99.6% would be supplied by Azerbaijan and the rest from its own tiny sources. The volume includes 30mn m³/yr gas lost in grid.

Georgia will take about 814mn m³ from Azerbaijan’s BP-led Shah Deniz gas field, of which 320mn m³ will be transit fee. Baku supplies 6.5bn m³/yr to Turkey thought Tbilisi and the country receives 5% of that as transit fee. Additionally, Georgia will purchase 1.866bn m³ gas from state-run company Socar. In total, Georgia will use 12.2% more gas from Azerbaijan this year than last, or 2.679bn m³ in total.

Major gas consumers (mn m³):

(Source: Government)