“We don’t want to have monopoly and Azerbaijan as the only supplier, we can also import a bit of from Russia as well. Our population can benefit a lot from this.
We’ll have competition, which will definitely affect prices.”, stated Minister of Economy of Georgia, Giorgi Kobulia.
“We need them more than Gazprom needs us”, said Kobulia.
According to the Minister of Economy, this was the topic of discussion during negotiations with Gazprom. Kobulia also added that Georgian side will sign the contract keeping in mind energy security and energy dependency.
“Taking into account energy security and energy independency, we could create diversification on Georgian market if we import a bit more gas from Russia”, stated Giorgi Kobulia.
It has been almost two months since the termination of a previous agreement between Georgian Gas Transportation Company and “Gazprom-Export” in regards to transportation of gas from Russia to Armenia. According to the Government, Georgia is trying to advance its conditions.
1.93 billion cubic meters of natural gas was transported to Armenia through Georgian pipelines in 2018.
Since 2017, Georgia was paid for the transit service with monetary system, first partially and then fully.
As far as it is known, this reimbursement has less value than the price of natural gas, which the country was getting for free.
Moreover, Kremlin has made a political decision to increase the prices of natural gas for Armenia. Since January Armenia pays 165$, instead of 150$ for 1000 cubic meters of natural gas.
