Russian Gazprom and State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) held negotiations seeking to increase Russian gas supply to Azerbaijan above the volumes set by the existing agreements, Trend reported.

The existing agreements specified that the volume of gas export from Moscow to Baku was to amount to nearly 2bcm/year.

Amidst growing gas consumption in Azerbaijan seen in the past two years, the country has expanded its gas supply network, but had to redirect volumes of gas targeted for Russia to the local markets to satisfy domestic demand, SOCAR’s President noted, according to Vestnik Kavkaza.

Gazprom and SOCAR held a meeting on future arrangements. SOCAR’s President, Rovnag Abdullayev said that the company planned to enhance its output to be able to renew gas supplies to Russia, instead merely to cover domestic needs. In 2016, SOCAR will check the peak capacities of its gas storage facilities. And “starting from 2017, we will begin providing gas supply to the North Caucasus region of Russia,” he added.