ST. PETERSBURG, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian gas giant Gazprom is prepared to purchase all of Azerbaijan's gas volume, the company's CEO announced on Saturday.
"We are ready to buy as much [gas] as Azerbaijan is ready to deliver. We are ready to buy all of Azerbaijan's gas," Alexei Miller said at a press conference on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.
Miller added that buying gas from Azerbaijan was "beneficial."
Deliveries of Azerbaijani gas began on January 1 of this year after Azerbaijan's GNKAR signed a contract with Russia's Gazprom in October of 2009 to deliver 500 million cubic meters of gas annually up to 2015, with the option of renewing the contract in the future.
Later the companies agreed to double gas deliveries to Russia, bringing the total amount of gas delivery from Azerbaijan to 1 billion cubic meters. The companies will again double that amount to 2 million cubic meters in 2011.
Azerbaijan's gas reaches Russia through its Baku-Novo-Filya gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea to the Russia's North Caucasus republics.
