Hopes Emerge after Blasts in Russia Leave Georgia Cold and in the Dark
The gas supply to Georgia stopped on January 17 as the reserve pipeline was damaged on the territory of Russia’s North Ossetian Republic. Earlier, the main export pipeline was also damaged by the blast.
As a result of both incidents, natural gas supply to South Caucasus was completely cut off, leading to the heating and electricity shortages, as both in Georgia and Armenia gas-fueled energy stations provide lion’s share of the produced electricity.
Irakli Kiziria, director of a Georgian gas transportation company, told Civil Georgia on January 23 that the Russian experts claim the accident on both pipelines in North Ossetia was “sabotage” by an unidentified group. The Georgian Fuel and Energy Ministry agrees with this opinion. However, the investigation in Russia is not completed yet.
As experts say, repairs on smaller, reserve pipeline will be completed by January 24. However, gas will reach Tbilisi residents only in two weeks. This time is needed for technical preparations to exclude possibility of further damage of the pipelines, and for stabilizing the pressure in the pipes.
Currently the 700-mm auxiliary pipeline in North Osetia is being repaired by the specialist of Stavropol based “Transgaz” company.
Irakli Kiziria told Civil Georgia, that the Georgian side is also participating in repair works. However, this has become possible only on January 20, 3 days after the explosion. Kiziria was unable to name exact costs of fixing the pipeline, but said that the Russian side will cover all the expenses.
The main, 1200-mm pipeline will be restored only for the end of January. But Georgian experts expect certain delays due to difficult geographic location of the pipeline.
For this moment gas supply to Tbilisi has stopped completely. Vakhtang Tsaava, Director General of the “Tbilgaz” company, told Civil Georgia that the city’s gas system would resume functioning within two weeks. In the beginning the gas will be supplied to roughly 1700 customers and then to various organizations and companies.
Damage of the pipelines caused problems with electricity supply in the capital city as well. Electricity is turned off to Tbilisi residents at 11am and resumed at 6pm daily. Priority installations – such as the hospitals and bread factories – are supplied for the most part of the day. Situation in the regions of Georgia is critical – most of the areas are simply blacked out.
On January 23 AES Telasi and the Russian side signed a contract considering import of electricity from Russia. Ignacio Iribarren, General Director of the AES Telasi says that it is planned to import some 120-150 megawatts of energy from Russia to improve energy supply to the capital city.
By Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia