RUSSIA TO BUY AZERI GAS FOR $350 PER 1,000 CU M

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
30.06.2009 13:12 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Russia is ready to purchase Azerbaijani natural
gas at a record price of $350 per 1,000 cu m to try and make a rival
Western-backed gas pipeline project unfeasible, a business paper
reported on Tuesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev paid a visit to Azerbaijan on Monday,
during which Gazprom signed an agreement with the State Oil Company
of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to buy 500 million cubic meters of gas
from Azerbaijan annually from January 1, 2010, with supplies expected
to increase in the future.

According to Kommersant, it was reported later on Monday that an
inter-governmental agreement on the construction of the rival Nabucco
gas pipeline bypassing Russia could be delayed.

The agreed gas price with Azerbaijan is higher than the $300 per 1,000
cu m that Russia offered to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan earlier in
the year.

The $10 billion Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union and the
U.S., is intended to link energy-rich Central Asia to Europe through
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria,
bypassing Russia and Ukraine. Construction has been tentatively
scheduled to begin in 2010.

Russia’s transit disputes with its former Soviet neighbors have
raised concerns that Europe is too dependent on Russia for its energy,
RIA Novosti reported.