According to the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mamuka Bakhtadze, Georgia will soon end the negotiations with “Gazprom-Export” in regards to signing the new agreement. PM spoke about this matter at a briefing today.
“Negotiations are being held by the Ministry of Economy of Georgia. Let’s wait for the results. I think that this process will end soon. Of course, our position is to make sure Georgia advances its positions in the agreement and of course, national interests, energy efficiency and security of our country stand at the cornerstone [of this process]”, stated Bakhtadze, however, he did not specify what Georgia’s conditions are during the negotiations.
A new contract between Georgian Gas Transportation Company and “Gazprom-Export” entered into force in 2017, as a result of which Russia changed the conditions regarding the transportation of gas from Russia to Armenia. Before new agreement Georgia was getting 10% of the natural gas that was being transported through its land.
Since 2017, however, the conditions have changed and Georgia was paid for the transit service with monetary system, first partially and then fully. This means that country is receiving a specific amount of money for this service. The commercial details of this contract is kept secret. The expiration date of this contract was on December 31, 2018. The new conditions are yet to be discussed by two sides this year.
