SOCAR and Gasprom plan to perform temporary swap operations of Russian gas deliveries to Azerbaijan, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev told journalists yesterday.
“These will be temporary swap operations. The agreement has been already reached with Gasprom administration. As a part of the agreement, Gasprom will deliver gas to Azerbaijan, which will be pumped into the underground gas storages. Later on SOCAR will use this gas to supply south of Russia with gas,” Abdullayev added.
He said gas supplies will begin in October 2015. At the initial stage Russia will deliver to Azerbaijan 10 million cub.m. of gas a day.
“As a part of these operations, it is planned to deliver 2 billion cub.m. of gas a year to Azerbaijan at the initial stage,” he added.
Abdullayev said that SOCAR will begin gas supplies to the North Caucasus in 2016.
“By pumping maximum gas volumes, we would like to test capacities of our storages. Capacities of underground gas storages have been initially increased up to 3.5 billion cub.m. and then up to 6 billion cub.m. But after the last expansion, we did not did test the capacity and now we will have a chance to do that,” he added.
SOCAR President also said that contract with Gasprom company for swap gas supplies will be signed in the coming two weeks.
“Right now our specialists have been working on the technical details of the deliveries. Implementation of this project will allow us to fully fill the gas storages and then start gas supplies to the North Caucasus,” explained Abdullayev.
He also said that if we ensure stable gas pumping into the underground storages, then SOCAR will be able to reduce the volume of collection of associated gas from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) bloc of fields and it will be pumped into the beds to increase oil extraction from ACG.—0—
Economics
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In recent days, there have been claims that bread prices in Azerbaijan have risen. Social media users report that the price of bread has increased by 5-10 qepiks. According to consumer complaints, it is difficult to find weight information on factory-produced bread, commonly known as "zavod çörəyi" in Azerbaijan. In many cases, bread packaging does not include weight details. Similarly, bread sold at smaller bakeries and tandir houses often lacks information apart from the price.
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A trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers, transport ministers, energy ministers, and heads of customs services of Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan is set to take place soon to discuss the progress of the Rasht-Astara railway project, a key element of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). This was announced by Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali.
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Azerbaijan and Tatarstan continue to strengthen trade and economic cooperation, based on mutual interests in energy, mechanical engineering, petrochemicals, agriculture, and transport. Bilateral relations have shown steady growth, supported by regular visits of official delegations and participation in international economic forums.
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Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company, SOCAR, is deepening its engagement in international gas projects as it seeks to diversify supply routes to Europe. In January 2025, the company acquired a 10% stake in Israel’s Tamar gas field, which holds an estimated 300 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas. The field, located near the giant Leviathan deposit, is seen as a key source for expanding gas exports from the eastern Mediterranean.
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