Armenian President in Turkey: Baku and Moscow conclude gas supply contract

Azeri state oil company SOCAR and Russian state-controlled giant Gazprom signed a contract on October 14 in Baku for transporting Azeri natural gas to Russia. The agreement was signed by SOCAR President Rovnag Abdulaev and Gazprom chairman Alexey Miller. The document envisages transporting not less than 500 million cubic metres of Azeri gas to Russia from the beginning of 2010.

Polish President Lech Kachinsky had earlier said that 500 million cubic metres is a symbolic amount. Analysts think that this contract will not influence the implementation of the NABUCCO project. However there is a certain threat to NABUCCO, as if the quantity of gas supplied under this contract is increased at the expense of Shah Deniz 2 oil field exploitation this would undermine NABUCCO.

US Special Envoy in Eurasian Energy Issues Richard Morningstar does not think the contract threatens NABUCCO.

It is significant that it was signed during Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian’s visit to Turkey, while certain controversies over Turkish-Armenian relations are affecting Turkish-Azeri relations.