KRASNAYA POLYANA, Krasnodar Region — Gazprom said it signed a deal with the Azeri national energy company, Socar, to increase Russian purchases of Azeri gas to 3 billion cubic meters per year.
The deal was an addendum to a 2009 supply deal, which initially envisaged 500 million cubic meters in annual deliveries from Azerbaijan to Russia.
Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller, speaking at a Black Sea ski resort Monday after meeting the head of Socar, Rovnag Abdullayev, said Russia could buy Azeri gas without incurring the cost and headache of transit via third countries. The contract price for the increased Azeri volumes, calculated according to a formula, was not disclosed.
(Reuters)
