Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania found enterprise to transport liquefied gas
In the Caucasus and Black Sea regions the competition to deliver energy is increasing. A plan to deliver condensed natural gas from Azerbaijan via Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania has been added to the projects of the oil pipelines Nabucco and South Stream. A protocol on the creation of a joint venture to realize this project was signed
in the middle of May in Tbilisi. Minister of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan Natik Aliyev, Minister of Economy, Trade and Business of Romania Adrian Vidianu, and Energy Minister of Georgia Alexander Khetaguri signed the document on the basis of the Memorandum of mutual understanding, which was formalized a month ago in Bucharest. The
project presupposes delivering natural gas from Azerbaijan to Georgia using the new pipeline (which is under construction now). In Georgia, on the coast of the Black Sea, a factory will be built to convert
natural gas to the liquefied form. It will be delivered to Romania by tankers. In Romania, a "regasification" factory is due to be built. According to Khetaguri, this project does not compete with Nabucco, but rather complements it.
The joint venture is called AGRI, after the first letters of the countries-members' names. It will be founded in Bucharest in a month after the protocol is signed. In the first stage, its main task is to study all aspects of the project and attract funds and investors. That means at the moment not a single cent has been invested in the
project. A source for the Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation told VK that the share of each country-member is 33.3%. Management will be on equal rights and decisions will be made by consensus. The question of who will be the leader of the project has not been discussed yet. Also, it is not known yet where the gas processing factory will be built and what its capacity will be. According to VK's data, the enterprise will process at least 2 and a maximum of 7 billion cubic meters a year. This issue will be endorsed later when there is a technical and economical basis. Accordingly, the aggregate costs of the project are also not known yet. Georgian experts say the total costs depend on the enterprise's capacity. So long as the capacity is not determined, the costs are not known. Theoretically, the creation of an enterprise to process a billion cubic meters each year in the terms of Georgia needs
an investment of $600 million. As the capacity of the enterprises ncrease the costs decrease.
In Tbilisi they hope that realization of the project will increase the fragile energy security of the country. Georgia does not own any energy resources so any transit projects will increase resources which supply the population and economy. Bucharest and Baku, judging by their representatives' statements, regard the AGRI project as an
important factor of the import of energy resources and export diversification.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK.
