Georgian Press on Gas Talks

Georgia’s gas supplies for 2007, an issue in which much still remains unclear, was extensively discussed in the Georgian press on December 25.

Georgian Energy Minister Nika Gilauri confirmed on December 24 that he has signed a gas-sharing agreement with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara; as a result Georgia will receive part of the Turkish gas quota from Azerbaijan’s Shah-Deniz field – 800 million cubic meters. This will be in addition to Georgia’s original share of 250 million cubic meters. But Gilauri declined to reveal the price, which is expected to be disclosed after Georgian PM Zurab Nogaideli’s talks in Baku, scheduled for December 25.

At the same, time three companies in Georgia have signed contracts with Gazprom to purchase a total of 1,1 billion cubic meters of gas for USD 235 per 1000 cubic meters in 2007. This would make the aggregate amount of Russian and Shah-Deniz gas 2,15 billion cubic meters, which is more than Georgia’s projected gas consumption in 2007. PM Nogaideli said on December 22 that Georgia will have to buy Russian gas in the beginning of 2007 as the Shah-Deniz gas is delayed because of technical reasons.

The decision to buy Russian gas comes after the Georgian leadership repeatedly stated that Tbilisi would not pay a “political price” to Gazprom.

The Georgian daily 24 Saati (24 Hours) said on December 25 that although the Georgian government did its utmost to secure alternative gas supplies, the Georgian leadership’s initial “ambitious rhetoric and hasty statements” about the intention to totally give up Russian gas eventually “put the Georgian leadership in a loser’s position.”

“If not for the Georgian authorities’ rhetoric, which was setting the total rejection of Russian gas as a goal, talks over gas supplies could have been regarded as a success… The government created a false illusion in society that it was possible to say no to Russia’s expensive gas in favor of other cheap supplies. At the time when a bold statement was made by the Georgian government that it was not going to pay a ‘political price,’ talks over alternative gas supplies were not even being held,” the 24 Saati writes in its front-page article.

The daily Rezonansi (Resonance) is more skeptical about the Georgian authorities’ “success” in securing alternative gas supplies.

The paper questions PM Zurab Nogaideli’s statement that “technical problems” are delaying Shah-Deniz gas delivery, and argues that this is just a pretext for the Georgian authorities to justify the continued reliance on Russian gas. It posits that the real cause is the government’s failure to strike a favorable deal on redistribution terms of Shah-Deniz gas.

“The Georgian government was not ready for [gas] talks with neighboring countries… It is not even clear what the terms of transit of Russian gas to Armenia via Georgia will be,” Rezonansi writes.

In a separate article Rezonansi interviewed energy analyst Gia Khukhashvili, who says that President Saakashvili, who was claiming that Georgia was not going to pay a political price for Russian gas, was misled by Prime Minister Nogaideli and Energy Minister Nika Gilauri, who were in charge of gas talks with Turkey and Azerbaijan.

“President Saakashvili understood that information provided by the PM and Energy Minister was not correct only after he personally held talks with Turkish officials during his visit to Ankara. If not for Saakashvili’s personal involvement in talks with the Turkish side, we could have been in an even worse situation now,” Gia Khukhashvili told the Rezonansi.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)