Georgia seeking further Azeri gas supplies

Georgia and Azerbaijan started talks on Tuesday on prolonging Azeri gas supplies to the neighboring South Caucasus republic, as Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gelauri arrived in Baku in a bid to extend the deliveries through the year.

The agreement reached by the two countries expires on April 10.

“We have fulfilled the existing contract by delivering the envisioned volume during the first quarter of 2007,” Minister of Energy and Industry Natig Aliyev said but added that it was unclear at this point whether the state oil company SOCAR would continue the supplies till the year-end.

“In my opinion, we could [further] supply gas only in crisis situations,” Aliyev said. “The situation with gas supplies in Azerbaijan is not ideal and we should think about ourselves too.”*