Turkey unveils gas price to be paid to Azerbaijan
Turkey has announced it will pay price difference for natural gas Azerbaijan supplied to Turkey during 2009 at a low price because the parties failed to agree a new price during the year, Zaman reported.
18:29 / 06.01.2010 According to the price revision by the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ), the Azerbaijani gas imported in the first quarter of 2009 will end up costing $399 per 1,000 cubic meters and $230-$280 for the mid-year and second half of 2009.
The price for 2010 will be decided in February 2010.
In accordance with the old price which expired on April 2008, Turkey purchased Azeri gas for $120 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2009. The new scheme is intended to compensate for the paid low price.
Turkish energy minister had said earlier that Turkey would pay the difference between the old price it has paid for Azeri gas since April 2008 after the gas agreement expired and the new price to be agreed on with Azerbaijan.
According to turkey’s energy minister, it will cost Turkey $600 million to pay for the price difference.
The newspaper said that in 2007-2008, under a take-or-pay agreement with Iran, Turkey paid $704 million to this country for gas it did not use because failure of Sivar gas compressor station to operate at full capacity.
A take or pay principle is a contractual agreement in which one party agrees to purchase a specific amount of gas or to pay the equivalent cost even if the specified amount of gas is not needed.
Azerbaijan has natural gas agreements with Georgia, Turkey, Russia and Iran at present.
According to unofficial sources, Georgia pays $180 per 1,000 cubic meters of Azeri gas.
Gas prices for Russia and Iran are calculated on a special formula agreed between the parties.Bu yazı ( 282 ) - dəfə oxunmuşdur
