An agreement on the resumption of exports of Kazakh and Azerbaijani liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) via the port of Batumi to Europe was reached at the end of last week, during the 13th meeting of the Kazakh-Azerbaijani intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation.
The intergovernmental meeting was attended by the Azerbaijani Energy Minister, Natig Aliyev, and Kazakhstan's Energy Minister, Kanat Bozumbayev. The transportation of Azerbaijani liquefied gas via the Batumi oil terminal, which is owned by ‘KazTransOil’, the Kazakh national company, has been declining since 2010. In that year Batumi transported 156 thousand of tons of fuel, then in 2014 only 23 thousand tons, and in 2015 the transportation of Azerbaijani gas ceased. The main reason was the change of the situation on the international energy market, but a certain role, apparently, was played by the difficulties of the Kazakh companies that arose in Georgia: Astana and Tbilisi could not agree on the parameters of the implementation of some investment projects, and the Kazakh company ‘KazMunayGas’ even voiced the possibility of the sale of a strategic object – the distribution company ‘Tbilgas’.
Natig Aliyev and Kanat Bozumbayev
But as a result of several rounds of negotiations, the Georgian Vice-Premier, Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze and his Kazakhstani colleagues, managed to soften the differences, although ‘KazMunaiGas’ has not given up the idea of selling its Georgian ‘daughter’.
The terminal of liquefied carbon dioxide on the territory of the Batumi oil terminal is the only facility in Georgia designed for the storage, handling and export of liquefied natural gas from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the European markets. The total volume of the tank farm for the storage of LPG is 5 thousand cubic meters. The terminal is equipped with a drain overpass for 14 tank wagons.
Kakha Kaladze
An important aspect of reaching an agreement on the resumption of the exports through the Batumi LPG terminal in Tbilisi is believed to be the fact of the resumption of energy transit via Georgia. "The main thing is that Baku and Astana have reached a principle consent in this issue, and demonstrated to the world the demand for the South Caucasus transport corridor, the expert of the information and analytical agency GHN, Gela Kalandadze, told Vestnik Kavkaza. According to him, in the near future the South Caucasus corridor can be used not only for the export needs of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, but other Central Asian countries as well. for Georgia, this means creating and maintaining hundreds of new jobs in Ajaria and throughout the country. And not in the tourism industry, but in the transport sector and the real sector of the economy as well. "This is a signal to investors in transit projects that Georgia and the South Caucasus corridor as a whole is a reliable, secure and stable energy supply route. Given the current situation in the region, such a signal is well worth it,’’ the expert believes.
