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A week after the visit of Greek Minister of Productive Reconstruction, Energy and Environment Panagiotis Lafazanis to Baku, Azerbaijan responded negatively to his demands. These include imposing a transit fee for the TAP pipeline and reducing the prices of Azeri gas to Greece. The conditions on the participation of the Greek side in the project consortium for the construction of the TAP set by Baku are also equal to a refusal to that request of the new Greek cabinet.

"If Greece wants to buy any share, we are ready to sell it. The main requirement for the Greek side is that it must settle the account on time. Our wishes coincide. It is another thing to find a solvent company not to delay the construction of the pipeline and the Southern Gas Corridor project." With this statement to the agency, Socar Vice-President Elshad Nasirov explained that the consortium for the construction of TAP would not give Greece a free share.

The contract with Greece provides for the involvement of the state gas company DEPA by purchasing a 5% share after the pipeline has been put into operation, without indicating a pre-agreed price. The new Greek cabinet and Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis requested a free share, one of the main arguments for this being the way in which the Turkish company Tpao has ensured its 19% share in the TANAP pipeline. Turkey has given the "green light" for the gas to pass through its territory and has secured better prices for the gas quantities that it will use to cover its own needs.

Nasirov added that it is not possible to meet Lafazanis’ request for reducing the prices of the gas quantities, which today are imported in Greece via Turkey and of those which will be transited through the pipeline in the future. "Price discount is not possible. This is contrary to international practice," he said, adding, "A contract was signed with Greece for 25 years. It provides for possible negotiations on price changes but this can only happen when sharp changes are observed in the market. However, this will be possible only after gas supply has started. As Greek side does not buy gas yet, any price change is out of question. And it does not affect Azerbaijan alone but a consortium of seven companies that will supply gas to Greece."

His third "no" was related to the request of the Greek Minister to introduce a fee on TAP in Greece. According to Nasirov, the request must be addressed at the European level, where the competent institutions can examine it. He thus refers to European legislation, under which the pipelines belonging to private consortia are not required to pay fees for passing though a particular territory.

It is noteworthy that the talks between Panagiotis Lafazanis and the representatives of the state company Socar in Baku took place in the shadow of the deal for the sale of the Greek gas company DESFA that the European Competition Commission has blocked. The relevant decision was made shortly before the elections in Greece and now a check on the approval of the transfer is underway.

Currently, neither Greece nor Azerbaijan is indicating their intentions regarding the course of the transaction. Athens is arguing that, although it opposes the sale, it will still wait and see the decision of the European Union. Baku is saying that it is also expecting the opinion of Brussels on transferring the ownership of DESFA to it.