Baku, Ashgabat hold talks on continuation of swap gas supplies

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are negotiating the continuation of swap gas supplies.

"Gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan via Iran have been temporarily stopped, according to the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC)," Russia's Interfax news agency reported on January 7.

"Baku and Ashgabat are negotiating on this issue," Iranian media reports citing NIGC.

It is noted that swap supplies will be resumed after reaching an agreement between the two countries.

As previously reported, Iran has started transporting gas received from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan since January 2022 in line with a trilateral swap agreement signed on 28 November 2021 in Ashgabat. The agreement provided for the supply of up to 1.5-2 billion cubic metres of Turkmen gas per year to Azerbaijan via Iran.

In early June 2022, Azerbaijani Economy Minister Mikayil Jabbarov and Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji signed a memorandum of understanding in Baku, under which gas supplies from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan via Iran were to double.

From January through November 2023, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan totalled over $738.9 million.

According to APA's calculations based on the report of the State Customs Committee, this indicator increased by 73 per cent or $311.8 million compared to the same period last year.

During the reporting period, exports from Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan increased 4-fold to $77.3 million, while exports from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan increased by 62.4 per cent to $661.6 million.

Turkmenistan ranks sixth in the list of countries to which Azerbaijan exports non-oil products.

Trade turnover with Turkmenistan accounted for 1.56 per cent of Azerbaijan's total trade turnover in the reported period. In the same period of 2022, trade turnover between the two countries was $427 million.