Azerbaijan to increase gas purchases from Turkmenistan next year

In September this year, the volumes of Turkmen gas that Azerbaijan will import through Iran in 2023 will be determined, an informed source in the government told Report.

The supplies are carried out within the agreement on swap gas supplies signed between Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan on November 28, 2021.

In 2023, the volume of supplies will exceed the level of 2022, for which the purchase of 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas was agreed, the source said.

According to the November trilateral swap agreement, since January 2022, Turkmenistan has been sending 5-6 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iran through the gas pipeline, of which 4 million cubic meters per day are intended for Azerbaijan, the rest goes to Iran for its five northern provinces.

In Azerbaijan, Turkmen gas is primarily intended for the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR), which receives it through Iran’s Jolfa.

Azerbaijan receives another part of the gas through Astara and uses it for its urgent needs.

“The implementation of this agreement will allow Azerbaijan to balance its gas distribution operations in the domestic and foreign markets in order to have certain reserve volumes of gas if necessary,” the government representative explained.

In turn, Turkmenistan stated that it is able to supply 15-20 million cubic meters of gas per day to Iran and Azerbaijan and is ready to discuss this topic.

Azerbaijan plans to produce about 45 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, but only about 32 billion cubic meters of this volume are commercial. Some 20 billion cubic meters of them are intended for export, the rest of the gas is for domestic consumption.

E.L.