Baku puts no limits on Gazprom deal

BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 2 (UPI) -- There is no limit to the amount of gas that Azerbaijan will sell to Russia under the terms of a five-year agreement, state oil officials in Baku said.

Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan Republic earlier this week signed agreements for the delivery of 1.7 billion cubic feet per year from Azerbaijan starting in 2010.

Gazprom chief Alexei Miller said the early volumes would come from the massive Shah Deniz gas field, one of the largest gas fields in the world.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev heralded the deal as a way for his country to expand and diversify its client portfolio.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, for his part, said the early stages of the deal outlined provisions for only small volumes of Azeri gas. Rovnag Abdullayev, the SOCAR president, however, said there was no limit to the amount of gas it would sell to Russia, the Azeri Press Agency reports.

"No maximum limit was set in the agreement," he said. "If we have more free gas, we will increase export (volumes)."

He declined to indicate the pricing terms of the deal, saying only the price is "normal" and suitable.