SOCAR announces intention to resume gas purchases from Gazprom

Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR has announced plans to resume purchases of natural gas from Russia's Gazprom. The announcement was made at Russian Energy Week in Moscow on October 16.

SOCAR Vice President Elshad Nasirov told forum participants that Baku is interested in restarting purchases and swap operations with Gazprom. "SOCAR is the only company in the world that started by buying gas from Gazprom, then became a supplier of gas to Gazprom, and now we want to start buying and swapping gas with Gazprom again," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Nasirov acknowledged that the parties have not yet reached any concrete agreements.

The announcement came hours before US President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending sweeping sanctions and tariffs aimed at Russian energy export revenues.