Azerbaijan increases gas supplies to Russia by 60%

The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) exported
188.96 million cubic meters of gas (approximately 6.1 million cubic
meters annually) in January 2011, exceeding the previous month's
indicator by 60%, a statement by SOCAR says.

SOCAR and Gazprom signed a commercial deal for 5 years on October 14,
2009. Azerbaijan started gas export on January 1, 2010. 1 billion
cubic meters were to be exported in 2010. However, only 799.75 million
cubic meters of gas were exported.

This year Azerbaijan will provide 2 billion cubic meters. This year,
Russia (as well as Iran) will fail to fulfill obligations by 100%.
This is why Baku is interested in new gas markets. It plans to
increase gas extraction by 2 billion cubic meters using Shah-Deniz.
The gas extraction may reach 9 billion cubic meters within the Stage-1
project. SOCAR will not exceed 7 billion cubic meters, taking into
account the demand for gas in Europe.

SOCAR pumped 3.1 billion cubic meters in its underground storages in
winter 2010-2011 for the first time. Azerbaijan plans to produce over
16 billion cubic meters of gas, 7 billion o them will be used to
fulfill interior demands, 5.5 billion will be transported to Turkey,
0.7 billion to Georgia, 1 billion to Iran.