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Georgia will become a gas exporter in the next five years, said Steve Nicandros, chairman and chief executive officer of the International Oil and Gas Company Frontera Resources, which is engaged in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the Black Sea region.

He made remarks at the Atlantic Council during the presentation of Ariel Cohen, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center & Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council.

He said that Frontera Resources found major gas reserves in its licensed territory in Eastern Georgia, which, according to company’s estimates, are nearly five trillion cubic meters.

“When you think about that volume that will be coming to the market over the next decade, it is a game changer for supply,” said Nicandros. “It provides additional diversification; it provides confidence in the construction of infrastructure through the region, to supply not only Turkish markets but Eastern European markets.”

“The Kura Basin is a geologic province that has been known to contain hydrocarbons for a long time”, he noted.

“We're seeing a renaissance of investment in the lower Kura valley, in Azerbaijan, and in the upper Kura valley in eastern Georgia,” he added.

Today Georgia is a gas importer, which is supplied mainly from Azerbaijan. Some 10 percent of gas is supplied from Russia as payment for gas transit to Armenia.

In Autumn of 2015, Frontera Resources Company stated that the Georgian gas resources’ volume may be 3.8 trillion cubic meters, but in February raised its forecast of up to five trillion cubic meters.

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