Georgia Ups Imports from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan state-owned oil company Socar will supply an extra 50mn m³ of gas to neighbouring Georgia this winter.

According to Socar this gas will come through the Caucasus Pipeline (SCP). It will deliver 7mn m³/d instead of 6mn m³/d.

Last month Socar promised the Georgian government to supply more gas to meet its increased demand in energy, especially in the winter period. But its Gazakh-Gardabany pipeline has limited capacity and is running at full capacity.

The SCP line belongs to the Shah Deniz consortium and exports gas from the Caspian to Georgia and Turkey.

Socar said that the Shah Deniz partners agreed “on a revision of the seasonal limitation determined by the contracts on gas supply to Georgia.”

Georgia’s energy ministry puts the shortage at about 1.5mn m³/d. Georgia imports around 11.5mn m³/d, 9mn m³/d of which comes from Azerbaijan. The rest it receives as a payment from Gazprom for transiting gas from Russia to Armenia.     

To meet increasing gas demand Georgia’s energy ministry Kakha Kaladze has been negotiating with Russia’s gas monopoly Gazprom to buy gas above that amount but so far with no result.

The opposition party has criticized the government’s plan to enter a commercial arrangement with Gazprom, saying it will have political consequences, said the United National Movement (UNM). The UNM is the main opposition party in Georgia that regularly organizes protests against a deal with Gazprom.

Kama Mustafayeva