Azerbaijani "Surprise" for Georgian Gas Consumers

• 02.06.2015, 18:08
•  Region,  World

SOCAR Georgia will raise the cost of natural gas for commercial consumers by 0.15 GEL from March 1.   "There was a need to adjust the price of natural gas for consumers of Georgia’s private sector given the volume of natural gas imports and changes in the national currency rate – Georgian lari versus US dollar," - says the statement of the company, reports news.az.

Moreover, according to that, SOCAR Georgia Gas sets the price on a cubic meter of natural gas at a rate of 0.9 GEL (about $ 0.45 USD) for commercial customers of all categories (except bread baking plants). Today the companies pay 0.75 GEL for every cubic meter of consumed gas.

The price increase is explained by the significant change in exchange rate in the value of the GEL to the USD. Georgia’s national currency rate decreased from 1.75 to 2 lari / $ 1 for two months.

The increase of tariff of natural gas for individuals was not expected. That is why Georgian Government in a mobilized way tries to take some actions to maintain the current tariffs on gas supplies.

"I think we must find ways to avoid an increase in gas prices, in any case, at least at this stage. We had communication with representatives of SOCAR. They are absolutely willing to negotiate on this subject, so I want to once again call on the two deputy prime ministers, together with the Economic Council, which will be involved in this process on my behalf to resolve the issue in the shortest time," Garibashvili said at a Governmental meeting, reports agenda.ge.  

Despite the high-level announcements many experts suppose that Georgia cannot avoid the price increase. The main reason of that is Georgia's dependence upon Azerbaijani resources.  Azerbaijan provides more than 80 percent of the gas consumed by Georgia. Moreover, SOCAR is engaged in the distribution of gas and petroleum products and owns a network of gas stations in Georgia. All these factors are weakening Georgia’s positions at the negotiating table with Azerbaijan both concerning the hydrocarbon resources' costs and other spheres.