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Azerbaijan, Russia may sign deal next week

27 June 2009 07:51 (UTC +04:00)

Gazpromâ€™s chief executive Alexei Miller said at a shareholders’ meeting in Moscow that signing of what he described as â€œimportant agreementsâ€ will take place during Russian President Dmitry Medvedevâ€™s business trip to Baku on his Azeri counterpartâ€™s invitation.

Gazprom has sought in recent years to corner the Central Asian gas supply, and reached preliminary agreement in March to buy Azerbaijani gas from 2010.

Miller said the parties are discussing "relatively small amounts" of gas so far, but Russia could start buying more from Azerbaijan in the future.

Miller said gas will be bought from phase one of Azerbaijan’s main gas field, Shah Deniz, led by BP and StatoilHydro, and added that talks would stretch beyond phase one.

Phase two of Shakh Deniz is viewed as the main potential source of gas for EU-backed Nabucco project.