Gazprom increases Turkmen and Azeri gas purchase

In 2010 Russian state owned company Gazprom plans to buy around 10 billion cubic metres of natural gas from Turkmenistan and possibly more Azeri gas from the Shah Deniz field. This was announced by Deputy Chairman of the company’s board Valery Golubev, who also stated that the company will give certain benefits to Ukraine as well.

The Russia-Turkmenistan deal was signed in December 2009. In that year Gazprom also signed an agreement with the Azeri state oil company SOCAR to purchase more Azeri gas. Azeri President Aliyev was prepared to sell more gas to Gazprom in the event of NABUCCO project delays but recently Baku and Ankara have struck a deal on the price of gas transported from Azerbaijan to Turkey and then on to Europe.