Georgian officials to mull gas price in Baku

Georgian officials are due in Baku to discuss prices for the supplies of Azeri gas to the neighboring country that were suspended early this month, Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizada told the press in Tbilisi where he attended the inauguration of the new Georgian president.

He said the price issue was not only up to the Azerbaijani government but also depended on the volume of gas produced in the capital Baku and the views of local companies selling gas.

“It would be better if the issue of increasing gas supplies to Georgia is solved by these companies,” Rasizada said.

Azerbaijan plans to raise the price from the current $120 to $170-180 per 1,000 cubic meters for this year.

Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze said after meeting his Azerbaijani counterpart that there were no problems with gas imports from the neighboring South Caucasus republic.

“We have been buying gas from Azerbaijan and will keep doing that,” he said but added that the price for gas to be supplied in 2008 should be reconsidered.

The Georgian premier called on local media not to blow the issue out of proportion, saying he believed the two countries would reach agreement to that end.

The supplies of Azeri gas to Georgia were suspended on January 6, and talks are currently under way on signing a new agreement to resume the deliveries.

Georgia has been meeting its domestic demand on account of Azeri gas since last year. In addition to the gas produced from Azerbaijan’s biggest offshore field Shahdaniz, the country was buying a million cubic meters of gas extracted by the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR.*