Tbilisi says Azerbaijan has strengthened Georgia's position in negotiations with Gazprom
The agreement on the additional supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia has strengthened Georgia’s position in its negotiations with Gazprom. One of the leaders of the Georgian parliamentary majority, Gia Volski, reported this to journalists on Saturday, as reported by Interfax.
“Azerbaijan has found technical resources which will strengthen our position on the market,” Volski said. This was in reference to an agreement signed the day before between the Georgian government and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). The agreement detailed the increase in gas supplied to Georgia by Azerbaijan by 500 million cubic meters.
Volski noted that Azerbaijan is a key strategic partner of Georgia in the sphere of gas, while Gazprom has a smaller role to play in this process.
“Naturally, there is a commercial interest when you negotiate with several partners. Our strategic partnership with Azerbaijan is an important factor,” Volski added.
According to him, Azerbaijan did not initially have the technical resources to increase the volume of gas supplies. When these resources were found, it resulted in a “pretty significant strengthening of our position on the competitive market”.
“In addition, the supplied resources will be cheaper and better. This is how Georgia’s position on negotiations with Gazprom has been strengthened,” Volski concluded.
As a result of the agreement with Azerbaijan, Georgia will no longer need to obtain additional gas supplies from Russia and Iran.
Negotiations with Gazprom, with regard to the conditions of transit of Russian gas to Armenia, are still continuing. Georgia currently receives 10% of the transit gas supplies. However, Gazprom now wants to receive cash payments for the transit. Georgia is not satisfied with this proposed change and wants to keep the existing conditions.
Every year, Georgia consumes approximately 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas. In 2015, Gazprom supplied Georgia with 295 million cubic meters of gas, the rest had been received from Azerbaijan.