Baku News

RBC, 01.12.2006, Tbilisi 09:34:34. – It is understood that starting from 2007 Azerbaijan will supply around 1.5bn cubic meters of gas to Georgia. Such a preliminary agreement resulted from talks between Georgia's Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli and Azerbaijani President Ilkham Aliyev held in Baku yesterday. The talks were also attended by energy ministers of the two countries. Nogaideli said that on December 6-8, another round of negotiations would be held to specify the exact amount of gas to be delivered and terms of re-distributing gas from the Azerbaijani Shah-Deniz field. Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliyev added that his country would help Georgia with its internal reserves despite the difficulties it faces. He elaborated that under the existing contract, gas supplied to Georgia from Shah-Deniz was mainly consumed by Turkey. The gas price for Georgia had been set at USD58 per thousand cubic meters, but the cost of extra gas to be supplied would be lower.