Economics
Azerbaijan to Increase Gas Exports to Russia
Azerbaijan is announcing a new agreement to supply Russia with increased gas supplies. Both SOCAR and Gazprom made the announcement on January 21 in Baku, and indicated that Gazprom would purchase 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas this year, followed by 2 bcm in 2011.
According to yesterdays Wall Street Journal, “OAO Gazprom expects to increase gas exports to European customers by 15% this year compared with 2009.” Gazprom said it plans to export 160.8 bcm of gas in 2010, up from 140.2 billion last year (source, WSJ.com)
Meanwhile, the Moscow Times is reporting that Gazprom plans to increase its European gas sales by 15% this year. The effort to increase sales in Europe will most likely come at the cost of not effectively countering North American development in both shale gas and the rise of Qatari LNG. Both Kommersant and other media outlets have been reporting this week on the difficulty in entering the North American market with U.S. advances in extracting shale gas in recent years.
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