NEWS BRIEFS

AZERBAIJAN TO INCREASE THE PRICE OF GAS EXPORTS TO TURKEY
5/15/09

Print this article   Email this article

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz confirmed that Azerbaijan will soon raise the price of natural gas exported to Turkey, Azerbaijani and Russian media outlets reported on May 15.

Azerbaijan currently charges Turkey $120 per 1,000 cubic meters - a fee substantially lower than that offered by other suppliers. According to a 1996 contract signed by Baku and Ankara, Turkey is entitled to 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz field. The contract stipulates that the signatories can revise the price to accommodate changing market realities.

During a mid-May visit to Baku by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Azerbaijani and Turkish officials discussed a new price agreement, but kept the details under wraps. After the talks, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev gave assurances that the upcoming price hike is not connected to potential geopolitical shifts in the region, an expression used to reference recent signs of a potential Turkish-Armenian rapprochement.

"We will pursue the policy of diversification of gas exports," the APA news agency quoted Aliyev as saying. He promised that the policy will take into account the interest of "brotherly" nations.

Posted May 15, 2009 © Eurasianet
http://www.eurasianet.org

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.