Wednesday, March 13 2019 11:05

ArmInfo. Negotiations with Gazprom have been completed and Georgia will soon issue an agreement with the Russian state gas company, Deputy Minister of Economy Natia Turnava reported this to "Georgia Online".

According to the Minister, the negotiations were completed  successfully, which means that Georgia has improved its position on  the Russian company. "The price of transit, which Russia pays us for  [transportation], has been increased, and the price of Russian gas  has been reduced: This is in case any private business is interested  in this alternative," says Turnava. According to her, she cannot say  exactly how much the cost of transit has increased, since this is a  commercial secret. According to Turnava, a two- year contract will be  signed with Gazprom, which will be in force between 2019 and 2020.  "Negotiations ended in our favor. The cost of transit increased. How  did we achieve this? This has several explanations.  Our team, which  negotiated with them, made good use of the dynamics of world oil  prices. There is a certain decrease in prices, respectively, there  was a readiness for certain concessions, and we made good use of this  moment. Most of our market is represented by a special [consumer]  sector, that is, the population. This sector will be supplied by  Azerbaijani gas and we have the resources for that. As for private  sector, business and production, it will be regulated by the market.  The fact that Russian gas enters the market en masse is ruled out,  "said Tournava.

In the negotiations with Gazprom, as the minister pointed out, the  Georgian side was guided by two basic principles - energy  independence and security, and improvement of positions in relations  with Gazprom.  "The two most important strategic segments of our  market, the population and the production of electricity, are fully  ensured and will continue to be provided by Azerbaijani gas," said  Turnava. According to her, in the gas sector, Azerbaijan is still the  main supplier to Georgia and a strategic partner, and after fully  using the second phase of the Shah Deniz field, the share of  Azerbaijani gas in the Georgian market will be further increased.  "The second task was to improve our position in relations with  Gazprom. We achieved an improvement in both positions - the cost of  transit paid to us is increased, and the purchase price of Russian  gas is reduced, in case any private business becomes interested in  this alternative," - declared Turnava.  To recall,  until 2016,  "Gazprom" paid for the transit of gas "in kind" - Georgia received a  fixed volume of gas for its transit to Armenia. Since 2016, Gazprom  has changed this approach with all states with which it has transit  agreements. Georgia had to accept new conditions. The opposition  blamed the authorities for facilitating the penetration of the  Russian company into the Georgian market, and Georgia didn't have  several tens of millions of dollars in the new agreement. The  two-year term of the previous agreement expired on December 31, 2018.  Until January 2017, Georgia received for the transit of gas from  Russia to Armenia 10% of the total amount of raw materials  transferred. According to the latest agreement between Georgia and  Gazprom Export, in 2017 gas transit to Armenia was paid by a mixed  system - partly in cash and partly in raw materials, and in 2018 it  was paid only in cash.