The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) and the National Iranian Gas Exporting Company (NIGEC) have signed a long-term contract in Baku on Wednesday. Azerbaijan will supply Iran with gas. The contract has a 5-year term. Azerbaijan will provide Iran with 1 billion cubic meters of gas in 2011. The figure will increase in the coming years, Trend reports.
SOCAR is working on improving the efficiency of its gas compression station in Astara. The gas pipeline from Azerbaijan to Iran will be reconstructed, followed by contracts on long-term gas supplies and their increase to 3-3.5 million cubic meters daily, instead of 1.2 million cubic meters.
Azerbaijan and Iran are connected with the Gazi-Magomed-Bind-Biand pipeline, which is 1474.5 km long, with 296.5 km on Azerbaijani territory. It is a branch of the Gazakh-Astara-Iran pipeline launched in 1971. There are three compression stations: in Gazi-Magomed, Agdash and Gazakh. The pipeline diameter is 1200mm.
Iran and Azerbaijan signed two memorandums on expansion of cooperation in gas supplies and electricity. The memorandums were signed within the framework of the visit of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Baku.
