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Georgia ready to fulfill commitments under energy projects - minister

27 March 2013 00:29 (UTC+04:00)
Georgia ready to fulfill commitments under energy projects - minister

By Sabina Idayatova

The new Georgian government supports all energy projects which have been outlined in the past and especially are of regional scale, and Georgia is ready to fulfill its obligations under energy projects, Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze has said.

Kaladze was delivering an opening speech at a two-day international conference, "Oil, Gas, Energy and Infrastructure", GIOGIE 2013, which started in the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Tuesday.

GIOGIE is a timely business meeting for the local and regional oil and gas community to discuss new opportunities in European energy security, diversification of natural gas supply routes, and developing domestic renewable energy and hydropower projects. Therefore, the oil, gas and energy industry needs to be informed of new opportunities that may arise from changes in Georgia's energy future after the new government's coming to power.

A strategic crossroad for hydrocarbon transit in the resource-rich Caspian region, Georgia has experienced continuous growth in the past decade.

"Georgia supports all international obligations on energy projects and is ready to fulfill its obligations," Kaladze said, stressing his country's intention to become a regional energy hub whereby it continues to build new hydropower plants while taking into account the requirements of environmentalists.

Furthermore, Kaladze noted that Georgia intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan and Turkey on gas supplies to Europe. "These projects are a priority for Georgia and we are ready to further go in this direction."

According to Kaladze, an increase in gas transit through Georgia will contribute to a reduction in consumer fees.

"The expansion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline will increase the gas transit to 16 billion cubic meters, allowing Georgia to get more benefits," Kaladze told journalists.

Kaladze said investors are discussing the possibility of increasing the capacity of the gas pipeline.

"Georgia will be able to get five percent [in profit] from the entire transit of gas from the Shah Deniz field [a giant deposit in Azerbaijan being developed by an international consortium], which can reduce consumer gas prices in the future," he added.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Energy Minister Eduard Stavitsky, who is also participating in the GIOGIE 2013 event, told reporters that his country is interested in the transit of Azerbaijani and Central Asian oil and gas to Europe.

"Kiev wants to participate in gas supplies, as well as gas transit to Europe, and to this end we are holding a series of talks," Stavitsky said.

The organizer of the conference and exhibition, which has been held since 2002, is the Iteca Kavkasia company.

The conference is attended by the head of the EU Delegation to Georgia, Philip Dimitrov, representatives of the UK and Kazakhstan's embassies, oil and gas companies and experts.

Traditionally about 150 delegates from 15 countries as well as government delegations from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey participate at the event.

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