Georgia Starts Getting Iranian Emergency Gas Supplies
January 30, 2006
30 January 2006 -- News reports say Georgia today began receiving natural gas from Iran for the first time in 35 years.
Davit Ingorovka, the head of Georgia's International Gas Corporation, told reporters in Tbilisi that Iranian deliveries began overnight, via Azerbaijan.
Ingorovka last week said combined Iranian and Azerbaijani emergency supplies could total up to 4.5 million cubic meters of natural gas, enough to cover the needs of the Georgian capital Tbilisi. He also said Georgia would be charged a "symbolic price" for Iranian gas.
The deals with Iran and Azerbaijan were struck after twin explosions on 22 January heavily damaged Russia's gas export pipeline to Georgia and Armenia, bringing supplies to those two countries to a halt.
Russian deliveries resumed on 29 January, but were halted after a few hours due to freezing cold.
(Prime News, Civil Georgia, ITAR-TASS)