12:00, 17 October 2009

Azerbaijan wants to refuse from gas supplies via Turkey

The absence of solutions to the issues of transit between Azerbaijan and Turkey compels Baku to look for new markets for Azerbaijani gas, as President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev said at the sitting of his government.

According to Mr Aliev, because of overestimated tariffs on gas transit across Turkey, which are 70 percent higher than market prices, Azerbaijan is for almost two years deprived an opportunity to export its gas to Europe. He also noted that Azerbaijan sells its gas to Turkey at a three times smaller price that the world average.

The ITAR-TASS quotes the head of Azerbaijan, who said that "because of Turkish position Azerbaijan has signed an agreement with the 'Gazprom' on exports of Azerbaijani gas to Russia." The "Gazeta.Ru" adds that Mr Aliev reported about possible gas deliveries to Iran and EU countries bypassing Turkey via the Black Sea.