Energy Minister claims UNM Gov’t bought gas from Gasprom
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, October 22
Former professional footballer-turned Georgian Energy Minister and Vice Prime Minister, Kakhi Kaladze, has stated that Georgia will have to portions of gas from Russia’s energy giant Gasprom.
The date of Kakhi Kaladze’s upcoming visit with the Gasprom leadership remains unknown.
According to him, natural gas consumption in the country has increased, and it needs additional resources. He also said that he is ready to meet with opponents of this issue.
“The consumption has increased by approximately 35-38 percent and this, of course, requires additional gas. However, there are politically bankrupt people and political parties who are speculating on the issue,” Kaladze said.
The Minister emphasized that certain portions of gas had been imported from Russia under the previous state leadership, and the former authorities had tried to hide the fact.
The Minister held a special press conference for journalists, wherein he revealed the timetable reflecting the gas purchases from Russia under the United National Movement Government.
According to these figures, shares of additional Russian gas in Georgia’s total gas consumption declined from 9.8% in 2009 to 1.6% in 2012; no additional gas was imported from Russia in 2013, and its share stood at 2.8% in 2014.
Azerbaijan remained as Georgia’s main gas provider; Georgia received about 87.1% of its total consumption of 2.17 billion cubic meters of gas from Baku in 2014.
About 686 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas came as part of the deal of the BP-operated South Caucasus Pipeline, which transports gas from Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea to Turkey via Georgia. A total of 1.21 billion cubic meters were imported through a separate contract with Azerbaijan.
Georgia received 267.7 million cubic meters of gas from Russia in 2014 of which 206.1 million was a transit fee; Georgia receives 10% of Russian gas transited to Armenia through the North-South Pipeline. In addition, Georgia imported 61.6 million cubic meters of Russian gas in 2014.
The opposition party, the United National Movement, states that the Government might become dependent on Russian energy products after starting negotiations with Russia on the issue.
According to them, such an action constitutes a betrayal of the country and the state interests.
