Azerbaijan to preserve alternative routes

The Financial Times has published an article expressing its concern over the temporarily suspension of energy transport through Georgian territory, and the intensifying of the acquisition of gas and oil supplies from Russia and Iran, which resulted from the August military actions. .

Since the Russian aggression against Georgia, Azerbaijan has been cautious about trumpeting its pro-western orientation, seeking not to irritate Russia too much. It is trying to perform a balancing act by pumping its oil in both directions, through both the BTC Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Novorossiysk pipelines. “We don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket, in particular when the basket is very weak”, stated Azeri state oil company Vice President Nasirov. Foreign Minister Elmar Mamediarov has said that Azerbaijan didn’t expect a war and that though Azerbaijan is friendly with everybody it acts according its own national interests.

Russia is asking Azerbaijan to almost double the amount of oil transported from Baku to Novorossiysk, and has also instructed Gazprom to purchase the entire Azerbaijan natural gas production.