Turkey and Greece buying less Azeri gas

The financial crisis has badly affected the Greek economy. It is in such a bad situation that the country is discussing the possibility of abandoning the Eurozone and many projects have been suspended.

CEO of the Greek gas corporation DEPA Harry Sachinis has stated that in 2010 Greece will purchase up to 1 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Azerbaijan but it had previously planned to buy more than a billion. Azerbaijan meanwhile is increasing its natural gas exports as it has excess gas. It consumed locally 10.7 billion cubic metres in 2008 but only 8.9 billion cubic metres in 2009.

However Turkey is also decreasing its consumption. In 2009 Turkey consumed and imported up to 5 billion cubic metres of Azerbaijani gas, but this was around one billion less than planned. The same tendency will continue in 2010.

Azerbaijan is preparing to sell more gas further west but it would first need to transport it through Turkey. Currently negotiations are underway to establish the Azeri natural gas transit price on Turkish territory.