Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

The Russian global energy company Gazprom is always open to further dialogue with the Azerbaijani side.

Deputy Chairman of Gazprom’s Board Alexander Medvedev said in an interview with the “Gazprom” magazine.

“We have excellent working relations with the Azerbaijani side. Gas is supplied to Azerbaijan within an existing contract. As for the prospects for further cooperation, we are always open to further dialogue,” Medvedev noted.

Speaking about the possibility of a competition between Russian gas and Azerbaijani gas, Medvedev stressed that there is enough space in the market for all suppliers.

“As for the competition of Russian gas and gas from other suppliers in the European market, I can say that own production of Europe is falling, while import requirements are steadily growing,” he said.

“The strongest competitors will be those who are able to offer consumers the most commercially attractive terms of supply,” he added.

Russian company Gazprom and the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR discussed the issues concerning gas supplies to Azerbaijan. These issues were discussed during a meeting between Chairman of the Board of Gazprom Alexey Miller and SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev.

Gazprom has supplied 1.15 billion cubic meters of gas to Azerbaijan since November 22, 2017 when gas exports to the country were resumed. The sides discussed cooperation prospects in this direction.

In October 2009, Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a medium-term contract to supply gas from Azerbaijan in 2010-2015 through the Shirvanovka point at the Russian-Azerbaijani border. During the period, 5.4 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas were bought.

In 2015, a subsidiary of Gazprom Export LLC, Gazprom Schweiz AG, supplied gas to Azerbaijan Methanol Company (AzMeCo). Under the contract, 107.4 billion cubic meters of gas were supplied.

Gazprom Export LLC and SOCAR signed a contract on gas supply to Azerbaijan on November 21, 2017.

Azerbaijan is one of the main economic partners of Russia among the CIS countries. Interregional cooperation plays an important role in the development of Russian-Azerbaijani trade and economic relations.

At present, enterprises of more than 70 regions of Russia cooperate directly with Azerbaijan. Fifteen regions of Russia have relevant agreements with Azerbaijan on trade and economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation.

Russia has been included in the list of Azerbaijan’s five largest trade partners in January-June 2018 with the volume of trade turnover of $ 1.14 billion (8.54 percent of the total volume of trade turnover).

Azerbaijan invested more than $1 billion in the Russian economy, and Russia invested about $4 billion in the economy of Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between the states amounted to $1.3 billion in January-July 2018, according to State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. Russia accounts for 7.89 percent of the total foreign trade turnover of Azerbaijan.