Energy Minister: Iranian Gas Price Deal Confidential
Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri told parliamentarians on March 30 that he can not unveil the price Georgia paid for gas imported from Iran in late January and early February, as it remains confidential.
“The information is confidential, at the request of the Iranian side,” Nika Gilauri, who was convened by the opposition parliamentarians to brief them about the gas deal with Iran.
Nika Gilauri said that he will be able to provide lawmakers with detailed information only at a closed-door session of the Parliamentary Bureau, which unites only chairmen of the parliamentary committees and parliamentary factions.
Gilauri also denied media reports that Georgia paid USD 233 per 1000 cubic meters of Iranian gas, calling them “false.”
The Iranian news agency IRNA reported shortly after the deal was signed between the Georgian and Iranian sides, on January 27, that the agreement envisaged an export of 30 million cubic meters of gas to Georgia over the course of a month. The total price of the deal amounted to USD 7 million. Georgia had to place this USD 7 million as a cash deposit and the exact price was planned to be agreed upon sometime in the future, IRNA reported at that time.
Georgia had to import Iranian gas as an emergency option after two gas pipelines were blown up in Russia’s North Ossetian Republic on January 22. Georgia stopped importing Iranian gas on February 5 after Russia resumed its gas supply to Georgia.
