Iranian Gas Starts Flowing to Georgia
Iranian gas started flowing through the Georgian pipeline system on Monday for the first time in 35 years, after Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri personally opened a valve at a gas station in Marneuli, south of the capital Tbilisi.
“This is an unprecedented event – when Georgia has diversified its gas supplies and is receiving gas from three countries [Azerbaijan, Russia, Iran]… It means that in cases of technical or other problems, Georgia can receive gas from other sources,” Nika Gilauri said on January 30.
The Georgian Energy Minister said that Iranian gas will continue to flow to Georgia for 10-15 days or even as long as a month, “depending on how stable Russian gas supplies are. Afterwards, we can have [Iranian gas] as a reserve [source] in case any problems occur in Georgia’s gas supplies.”
He also said that a gas supply from Azerbaijan also continues to flow and added that gas being supplied from Azerbaijan and Iran – about 4 million cubic meters per day – covers 30% of Georgia’s total needs.
Gilauri stressed that after “we announced our plans to import Iranian gas, the Russian side sped up the restoration process at the blown-up gas pipeline [in North Ossetia].”
The Minister said that Russian gas is already being delivered to the cities of Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Gori, Telavi and Rustavi.
“We assume that all of Georgia will be supplied with gas within 3-4 days,” he added.
Georgia and Iran agreed on a supply of 2 million cubic meters of gas per-day on January 27. Officials still decline to reveal the price Georgia is paying for the Iranian gas.
