Saakashvili Visits Turkey amid Gas Talks
The redistribution of natural gas from Azerbaijan?s Shah-Deniz field is expected to top the agenda of President Saakashvili?s three-day official visit to Turkey, which began on December 19.
?Georgia will undertake all the necessary steps towards Azerbaijan and Turkey in order to secure heat and electricity for the Georgian people? Energy is of special importance for Georgia and we will continue cooperation in this regard. Turkey is a strategic partner and a friend,? Saakashvili said at a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart after talks in Ankara on December 19.
Later on the same day bilateral talks were held between Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri and his Turkish counterpart Hilmi Guler. Gilauri said after the talks that details about the distribution of Shah-Deniz gas still need to be agreed on.
Intensive talks between officials from the state energy companies of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey ended in Baku on December 18. Officials were trying to finalize details of the December 8 meeting between the energy ministers of the three countries in Tbilisi, which ended with Turkey?s consent to give up part of its gas share ? 800 million cubic meters – to Georgia.
But there were media reports that talks in Baku failed to yield results. Associated Press and some Russian media sources quoted Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natik Aliyev as saying on December 18 that there were ?several difficulties? over how Georgia would pay for the 800 million cubic meters of gas.
Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri has strongly denied that the talks in Baku were unsuccessful.
?I even got in touch with the Azerbaijani side and they have assured me that they have not made any statements of this kind, and I can say that this report [about the failure to make progress in the talks] is a clear provocation by the Russian media sources,? Nika Gilauri told Georgian reporters in Ankara on December 19.
He also said that an agreement has already been reached and now talks are mainly focusing on a very detailed schedule of gas delivery.
Earlier Nika Gilauri said that apart from the 800 million cubic meters of gas that Turkey is ready to give up from its share, Georgia will also have 200 million cubic meters from the Shah-Deniz as a transit fee and 50 million at a reduced price, as envisaged by the initial contract of the new pipeline.
If the deal with Turkey is successful, Georgia will have at least 1,05 billion cubic meters of Shah-Deniz gas in 2007. Some unofficial reports said recently that Georgia also expects to receive at least 200 million cubic meters of gas as a fee for transporting Russian gas to Armenia.
The total gas consumption in Georgia is expected to be 1,9 billion cubic meters by the end of 2006. The numbers about projected gas consumption for next year vary from 1,5 billion to 1,8 billion cubic meters.
According to IMF estimates, the projected amount of consumed gas after the price hike on Russian gas in 2007 is roughly 1,7 billion cubic meters, or possibly less if tariffs for households increase.
Georgian authorities are also eyeing the possibility of import of Iranian gas, though the option seems to be a last resort. The U.S. warned Tbilisi to avoid long-term strategic partnership with Iran over energy issues.
?First of all, we are in talks with Azerbaijan and Turkey [over the redistribution of gas shares from the Shah-Deniz field] and only after these talks, if we need to, will we continue talks with Iran,? Georgian PM Zurab Nogaideli said on December 11 while visiting Washington.
PM Nogaideli, accompanied by Energy Minister Gilauri, will visit Tehran by the end of December.
Russia?s energy giant Gazprom has already warned that it will cut gas supplies from January, 2007 if there is no agreement with Georgia over the purchase of gas for USD 230 per 1000 cubic meters. President Saakashvili recently reiterated that this is ?a political price? which Georgia does not intend to pay.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
