OREANDA-NEWS. June 01, 2010. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) does not decline from plans of natural gas export to Iran (there is a relevant preliminary arrangement between SOCAR and Iran’s NIGEC).

SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev has said today that they are working now over preparation of infrastructure for supplies of large gas volumes to Iran and after that expect to sign a contract.

“We expect that infrastructure will be ready by this October and already in September are going to launch negotiations with the Iranian side. Availability of ready infrastructure for Azerbaijan is necessary as the long-term contract for gas supplies to be signed with Iran will stipulate fine sanctions for failure to implement contract commitments, including for delay with supplies,” Abdullayev said.

Earlier SOCAR was not able to implement the short-term contract for delivery of 100 million cu m of gas because of lack of infrastructure.

“That is why for signing of the contract we should be sure of full readiness of our own infrastructure,” Abdullayev underlined.

Within the long-term contract the volume of supplies will make 3-5 million cu m daily since this autumn.