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The gas agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan is about to be completed, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at his meeting with Azeri president Ilham Aliyev inAzerbaijan at a press conference, APA reports, citing CNN Turk.The final signing of the document will take place during Aliyev's visit to Turkey in June.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, is arriving in Baku tonight, TRT reports. The sides are going to sign an agreement on gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Turkey. Erdogan is also planning to visit some memorials tomorrow and to participate in opening a monument to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Baku.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Azerbaijan that oilextraction can no longer be the source of the country’s economicgrowth. The report was made after the latest annual survey of theAzerbaijani economy, provided by the 4th article of IMF’s Charter,PRIME-TASS reports.
Russia will propose uniting the Burgas-Alexandrupolis andSamsun-Jaykhan oil pipeline projects, after clarification ofBulgaria’s position on the first of them, Russian Minister of EnergySergey Shmatko said, RIA Novosti reports.He noted that implementation of the trilateral agreement betweenRussia, Greece and Bulgaria on the Burgas-Alexandrupolis project hasalmost halted, but so far they cannot unite the projects.
Switzerland officially proposed to Baku broad cooperation in variousenergy spheres, when a Swiss parliamentary delegate met today withofficials in the Azerbaijani Ministry of Industry and Energy, Turanreports.
The nuclear power plant in Bushehr will be launched at the end of summer 2010, the head of Rosatom Sergey Kiriyenko said today, RIA Novosti reports.Construction of the Bushehr power plant was started in 1975 by German companies, but due to the Iranian revolution, the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran and the US embargo on high-tech imports to Iran, the contract was cancelled.
Georgia, Azerbaijan and Romania signed an agreement on Wednesday on the establishment of a joint venture (JV) on the project of a new Azerbaijani gas-delivery route to Europe, reports Trend. Tbilisi hosted a ministerial meeting on the implementation of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Romanian gas-delivery project of Azerbaijani liquefied natural gas to Europe on May 12th.
Azerbaijan is interested in the quick implementation of the gas pipeline construction project Nabucco, Minister of Industry and Energy Natiq Aliyev said, reports Trend. "The level of Azerbaijani participation in gas supplies to Europe via this route depends on the demand," Aliyev said.He added that Azerbaijan had expressed interest in the project.
Tehran is ready to negotiate on nuclear issues with the EU’s HighRepresentative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy CatherineAshton, said a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, RaminMekhimanparast, Vzgliad reports.He spoke about the possibility of a meeting of Ashton with Iran's mainnuclear negotiator, the secretary of the High Council for NationalSecurity, Said Jalili.
Russian Vice-Premier Igor Sechin said today in Ankara that RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev plans to sign intergovernmental agreementson his visit to Turkey, RIA Novosti reports.Some documents are still being studied by experts. The main issues arecooperation in the spheres of gas, energy, nuclear power, oiltransport and a visa-free regime, Sechin said at a jointpress-conference with Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz in Ankara.
A working group formed by the Kazakh Ministry of Oil and Gas willstart inspecting all Kazakh off-shore projects in the Caspian Sea forsecurity measures, a ministry secretary Kanatbek Safinov told VK.Kazakh Premier Karim Masimov ordered the Ministry of Oil and Gas andthe Ministry of Ecology to present their views on improving thesecurity of oil projects after the crash at the Deepwater Horizon rigon April 20th in the Gulf of Mexico.
The State Oil Company of Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) has opened thefirst three gas stations under its brand in Baku, on the highwayleading to Baku international airport and on Zykh Highway and inBibi-Eybate, Trend reports.Nine more gas stations under the SOCAR brand will be opened by the endof the year. So far SOCAR has built 30 gas stations in Georgia.The company also plans a retail business in Ukraine. So far it hascarried out the rebranding of 20 gas stations. Oil product marketingwill start in May.
An intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Turkey on annullingthe bilateral visa regime for tourists planning to stay for less thana month will be signed within the framework of Medvedev's visit toAnkara 11-12 May, Turkish media report.Media reports also mention that a top-level council will beestablished. This will be the start of the three-stage road map ofAnkara-Moscow ties, involving political and trade aspects andcooperation between NGOs.
The head of the company is negotiating with its Georgian partners onfulfilling their obligations
Azerbaijan is prepared to supply half its gas extracts to the Nabuccopipeline that will bypass Russia as it pumps gas to Europe, RIANovosti reports, citing a presidential administration official."Azerbaijan attaches great importance to Nabucco ... We are ready tosupply 50% of Azerbaijani gas via the pipeline," Ali Gasanov, head ofthe social and political department of the Azerbaijani presidentadministration, said.
Construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline for the transport of naturalgas from the Caspian to Europe, bypassing Russia, will start on timein 2011, official Nabucco spokesman Christian Dolezal said, theTurkish business channel CNBC said.According to Dolezal, 70% of expenses will be compensated by thefinancial institutions and 30% - by consortium members."The EU has already provided us with a 200 million euro loan," -Dolezal said as quoted by RIA Novosti.
Russia expects Iran to be more flexible when discussing issues onexchanging low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel produced abroad,Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at UN Headquarters, wherea conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is being held,RIA Novosti reports.This is Russia’s reply to the declaration by Iranian President MahmoudAhmadinejad on Iran's readiness to exchange. At the same time, theIranian leader did not go into details about the conditions.
Russia is ready to share experience in the sphere of nuclear securitywith countries using atomic energy for peaceful purposes, RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev said in his message to participants of theUN committee on the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The message wasread by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, RIA Novosti reports.
The German energy group RWE, as part of the Nabucco projectshareholders, declared today that signing of an agreement withTurkmenistan on gas supplies has been postponed, Trend reports, citingdirector of RWE Supply & Trading Stephan Yudish.
The proposals of the Russian company 'Transneft' to transport oil around the Black Sea channels of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles will be discussed during the visit of Russian president Dmitri Medvedev to Ankara on May 11th-12th, stated 'Transneft' head Nikolay Tokarev. 'A working group will get together on May 4th, an intergovernmental commission will hold a session on May 5th-6th, then on May 11th-12th, during Medvedev's visit to Ankara, the question will be elevated to another level' - he said.
