Georgian PM appreciates Azerbaijan’s gas supply cooperation (UPDATE)
By Sabina Idayatova
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has expressed his gratitude to Azerbaijan for its cooperation in the field of gas supply.
Commenting on recent remarks by Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze about diversification of gas supplies and search for new sources of supply, the prime minister said Georgia is pleased to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the energy sector, and Kaladze was referring to electricity.
"We will establish cooperation in this sphere with Russia, but not in the gas sector," Ivanishvili said.
Earlier, Kaladze expressed Georgia's intention to resume gas purchases from Russia, thus ensuring multidirectional gas supplies.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili criticized Kaladze`s statement, but he later made clear Tbilisi was not in talks with Moscow on the issue yet.
Saakashvili also noted that Georgia, like no country in Europe, has managed to secure its energy security with the aid of Azerbaijan.
Prior to December 2006, Russia supplied relatively expensive natural gas to Georgia, charging the South Caucasus republic $235 per 1,000 cubic meters. In 2007, Georgia turned down the supplies of Russian gas and decided to purchase less expensive fuel from Azerbaijan.
Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have maintained no diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008.
Georgia and Azerbaijan are linked by a giant gas pipeline, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, whose length exceeds 700 kilometers. It transports gas produced from the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and supplies it to Georgia and Turkey.
Azerbaijan acts as a buyer of gas as well. In 2012, daily output capacity of the pipeline reached 11.1 million cubic meters of gas. The gas transit is expected to increase to 16 billion cubic meters through the expansion of the pipeline.