Azerbaijan has refused to buy Russian gas in 2007, Russian gas
giant Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Ekho Moskvy
radio on Friday.
Baku becomes a major gas producer and exporter. Thus "the
termination of Russian gas deliveries to Azerbaijan was only a
matter of time," Kupriyanov said.
"We planned the deliveries of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas
instead of the previous 4.5 billion," he said.
Gazprom planned to raise the gas price from US$110 per 1,000
cubic meters to US$235 from 2007. However, Azerbaijan said the
price is too high to accept.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told Russian media on Monday
that because Russian gas price offer is two times higher than
before, Azerbaijan may stop buying gas from Russia.
According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan's abundant petroleum reserves may
partly substitute the need for gas, and then reduces gas
import.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan will supply Georgia with one
million cubic meters of natural gas daily in 2007, Georgian Prime
Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)
