Gazprom Wants ‘Georgian Assets’ in Exchange for Cheap Gas
Gazprom will sell its gas to Georgia at the current price – USD 110 per 1000 cubic meters – if Tbilisi agrees to give some of its assets to the Russian gas monopoly, Gazprom’s export chief Alexander Medvedev said on November 7.
Otherwise, he said, Gazprom’s price for Georgia will be USD 230 per 1000 cubic meters. Medvedev did not specify what Georgian assets Gazprom wants.
“In the past, we already indicated what assets would be interesting for us, but we have received no reply [from the Georgian side],” he told a news conference in Moscow.
Gazprom made moves last year to purchase Georgia’s North-South Caucasus gas pipeline system, which is used to deliver Russian gas to Georgia and Armenia. There were considerations in Tbilisi previously about selling the pipeline to Gazprom but the idea was rejected, probably as a result of U.S. pressure.
Medvedev also warned that Gazprom will not supply gas to Georgia at all if the latter refuses to sign a contract setting the price for gas at USD 230, which he described as the market price.
After gaining control of Armenia’s gas distribution network, Gazprom announced that the gas price in Armenia will remain USD 110 per 1000 cubic meters.
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