Georgia will have sufficient gas, but the exact amount and price of gas that Azerbaijan will supply to Georgia still needs to be agreed on, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said after talks with Azeri leadership in Baku on November 30.
?We had very useful negotiations here and I am very satisfied? There will be a meeting of Energy Ministers from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey on December 6-8 and we expect to agree on the final distribution of shares of Shah-Deniz gas,? PM Zurab Nogaideli told reporters in Baku.
?What Georgia now needs is to fill a deficit of about 1,5 billion cubic meters of gas? We will definitely have this gas and we will not remain without gas this winter,? he added.
Natik Aliyev, the Azeri Minister of Industry and Energy, told reporters on November 30 that Azerbaijan is ready to provide Georgia with gas.
?Azerbaijan and Georgia have brotherly relations and Azerbaijan will be able to help Georgia from its own resources,? Natik Aliyev said.
Georgia wants to receive more Azeri gas from the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, which will transport Azeri gas from Shah-Deniz field to Turkey via Georgia next year, than the 250 million cubic meters allocated in the original contract.
?What we want is to increase our gas share from Shah-Deniz from 250 million cubic meters? and we want this Azeri gas to become a major share in our gas consumption,? Energy Minister Gilauri, who accompanied the PM in Baku, told reporters earlier on November 30.
President Saakashvili hinted on November 29 that Azerbaijan is willing to provide Georgia with natural gas.
President Saakashvili met with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the CIS summit in Minsk on November 28.
?I think this winter will become a historic example of brotherly relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia,? Saakashvili told reporters in London, where he arrived overnight after Minsk summit.
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