Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR will restore gas exports to Russia in 2015, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev told local media on November 5.

The company stopped gas supplies to Russia in connection with the work on construction of the remaining section of the Baku-Guba-Russian border road and maintenance work on the gas transport infrastructure.

Abdullayev said the work is in progress and gas supplies are likely to resume next year.

Azerbaijani gas is supplied to Russia on the basis of the contract on the purchase and sale of Azerbaijani gas with a possibility of extension. The deal was signed between SOCAR and Russia's Gazprom in Baku on October 14, 2009.

Gazprom was to receive two billion cubic meters of gas in 2011 and over two billion cubic meters in 2012, in accordance with a 2010 supplement to the contract. However, the Russian side did not get the full amount of the planned volume as of 2012.

The additional agreement to double the volume of Azerbaijani gas purchased by Russia, from 1.5 billion cubic meters to 3 billion cubic meters, was signed by both sides in Sochi on January 24, 2012.

SOCAR exported 1.37 billion cubic meters of gas to Russia in 2013.

Gasoline supply to Kazakhstan

KazMunayGas, the state-owned oil and gas company of Kazakhstan, has not appealed with a request to purchase Azerbaijani gasoline, Rovnag Abdullayev said.

He noted that currently, the country does not export gasoline and directs the available volumes to ensure domestic needs.

"But regarding Kazakhstan, the matter rests in small volumes," he said. "If they offer a good price, corresponding to the market price, we can find the volumes and ensure supply. These are small volumes, namely 5,000-10,000 metric tons, which we can supply at market prices."

Earlier, the Kazakh Energy Ministry reported that it has concluded an agreement to supply 3,000 tons of AI-92 gasoline from Azerbaijan.

The agreement on gasoline supply was signed with international Lanturno Management S.A. Company, which will carry out the delivery of the Azerbaijani fuel through the Russian territory.

However, the contractor [a company which must ensure supply] has not confirmed its readiness to supply the agreed volumes of Azerbaijani oil products to Kazakhstan. In this regards, no fuel was supplied.

Kazakhstan has several oil refineries, which are located in Shymkent (country's southern part), Atyrau (western part) and Pavlodar (northern part). The total processing capacity of them is 13 million tons per year.

However, the oil products produced in the country is not enough to meet the demand of the domestic market.

Experts believe Kazakhstan may resolve its problems of periodic shortage of fuels and lubricants only by increasing the prices of fuel and applying market laws. The reconstruction of Kazakhstan's oil refineries or construction of new ones is also believed to resolve the problem.

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