MOSCOW: Russia’s state-run natural gas company, Gazprom, and Azerbaijan’s state-controlled oil and gas firm, SOCAR, are in talks to increase Russian gas exports to the neighboring country, Kallanish Energy learns.
Gazprom said this week its chairman, Alexey Miller, and SOCAR’s president, Rovnag Abdulgayev, met in St. Petersburg, Russia, to discuss bilateral cooperation in the gas sector.
“Special attention was given to Russian gas exports to Azerbaijan, particularly the possibility of increasing gas supplies in order to meet potential consumption growth in the republic,” Gazprom said, without providing details.
In September, the Moscow-based producer signed a mid-term supply and purchase agreement with Azerbaijan Methanol Co. (AzMeCo) for the delivery of up to 70.6 billion cubic feet of gas per year (Bcf/y).
SOCAR currently holds 11 production sharing agreements for national onshore oil and gas fields, and participates in 34 joint ventures within Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The state-run company is also a stakeholder in the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP).
TAP will carry gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz II Field in the Caspian Sea, to Europe. The pipeline is part of a project designed to transport 564.8 Bcf of gas from the Azeri Field, believed to be one of the largest gas deposits in the world.
