Ukraine wants to reduce dependence on Russian gas and purchase it from Azerbaijan, Kommersant-Ukraina reports.
Ukraine plans to purchase 5 billion cubic meters of gas. A project on liquified gas purchases from Azerbaijan was announced in Davos on January 28 during a meeting of Ukrainian and Azerbaijani Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Victor Yanukovych. Their energy ministers signed a memorandum, approved in late July. A terminal for liquified gas will be built in Odessa.
An international consortium for the project will be formed in 2012. Construction will start in 2013. Ukraine will receive about a fifth of needed gas supplies (10 billion cubic meters).
The Azerbaijani Ministry for Industry and Energy is working on the issue. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) expressed interest in May. SOCAR Vice-President Vitaly Beglyarbekov said that the executives of AGRI LNG Co., established in 2010 for Azerbaijani oil transport in the Black Sea, will be involved.
