Azerbaijan has refused to buy Russian gas in 2007, Russian gas giant Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said on the Ekho Moskvy radio on Friday.

Baku becomes a major gas producer and exporter. Thus "the termination of Russian gas deliveries to Azerbaijan was only a matter of time," Kupriyanov said.

"We planned the deliveries of 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas instead of the previous 4.5 billion," he said.

Gazprom planned to raise the gas price from US$110 per 1,000 cubic meters to US$235 from 2007. However, Azerbaijan said the price is too high to accept.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev told Russian media on Monday that because Russian gas price offer is two times higher than before, Azerbaijan may stop buying gas from Russia.
 
According to Aliyev, Azerbaijan's abundant petroleum reserves may partly substitute the need for gas, and then reduces gas import.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan will supply Georgia with one million cubic meters of natural gas daily in 2007, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)