Following a meeting between Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilkham Aliyev in Baku, Gazprom and Socar have signed an addendum to the existing contract that confirms previous agreements on "purchases of 2 Bcm/year of Azeri gas in 2011 and over 2 Bcm/year after 2012," Gazprom said in a statement.
At the meeting between the two presidents, the partners "noted that cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan in the gas sector has been tightened up by multi-year joint history and has a major potential for further expansion in future," Gazprom said.
At the meeting, the parties "have analyzed the progress of January through August deliveries of Azeri gas to Russia, possibilities for cooperation development and agreed to further increase gas purchases," Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller said in the statement. Miller and Socar's president Ronvag
Abdullayev took part in the meeting.
In January, Gazprom said it had agreed to double purchases of Azeri gas in 2010 from previously agreed 500 million cu m/year and raise gas purchases to 2 Bcm in 2012.
Miller said Friday the new agreement was in line with the existing contract signed in late 2009, which did not set an upper limit for gas purchases from Azerbaijan.
Territorial proximity, absence of transit countries, and existing gas transportation network makes expansion of cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan mutually beneficial, Miller said in a statement.
"The Russian direction is the most reliable and safe channel for the supplies of Azeri gas onto the market," Miller said.
Gazprom has repeatedly said it is ready to buy all of Azerbaijan's available gas.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1411716.html
