Azerbaijan clinches deal on gas supplies to northern Iran
Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR and the
National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) on Monday signed a
contract on supplying Azerbaijani gas to Iran’s northern provinces
during the winter. The sides also reached an agreement to hold
talks on a five-year supply contract, with a possibility of further
extension, the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Under the agreement, signed during Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s visit to Iran on Monday, the South Caucasus republic’s gas will be delivered to Iran in certain volumes, beginning in 2010. The existing infrastructure between the two countries currently allows delivering about 500 million cubic meters of gas per year. In the future, the sides intend to expand capacity by increasing the capacity of gas compressor stations. The gas price is not reported.
The Iranian Ambassador in Baku, Mahammad Bagir Bahrami, said earlier that Iran intends to purchase up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan annually.
The two countries are linked with the 1,474 kilometer Gazi-Muhammad-Astara (Azerbaijan)-Bind-Biand (Iran) pipeline that has annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters. The Azerbaijan section of the conduit is 296 km long. The route is a section of the Gazakh-Astara-Iran pipeline, which was commissioned in 1971.
So far, Azerbaijan has signed agreements on selling its natural gas with Georgia, Turkey and Russia.
Azerbaijan produces most of its gas from the giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea, which holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters.*
Under the agreement, signed during Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov’s visit to Iran on Monday, the South Caucasus republic’s gas will be delivered to Iran in certain volumes, beginning in 2010. The existing infrastructure between the two countries currently allows delivering about 500 million cubic meters of gas per year. In the future, the sides intend to expand capacity by increasing the capacity of gas compressor stations. The gas price is not reported.
The Iranian Ambassador in Baku, Mahammad Bagir Bahrami, said earlier that Iran intends to purchase up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan annually.
The two countries are linked with the 1,474 kilometer Gazi-Muhammad-Astara (Azerbaijan)-Bind-Biand (Iran) pipeline that has annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters. The Azerbaijan section of the conduit is 296 km long. The route is a section of the Gazakh-Astara-Iran pipeline, which was commissioned in 1971.
So far, Azerbaijan has signed agreements on selling its natural gas with Georgia, Turkey and Russia.
Azerbaijan produces most of its gas from the giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea, which holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters.*
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