TBILISI, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Georgia will not purchase natural gas from Russia in 2018, local media reported Thursday, citing a government decree.
According to a report by Interpress News Agency, the Georgian Ministry of Economy has approved a natural gas balance for 2018 that completely switches the country's natural gas supply from Russia to Azerbaijan.
Tbilisi will receive 2.680 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan, among which 1.866 billion cubic meters will be from state oil company SOCAR, 813.9 million cubic meters from the Shah Deniz gas condensate field, and another 9.4 million cubic meters will be locally mined, the report said.
Georgia used to receive 10 percent of Russian gas transited to Armenia as payment for transiting via its territory. Russia has switched to paying Georgia in cash for the transit since 2017 under an agreement signed between the Georgian Energy Ministry and Russian oil giant Gazprom.