TBILISI, December 6 – Georgia’s natural gas imports rose again this year, with new data showing the country bought more than 286 million dollars’ worth of gas in the first ten months of 2025.
The figures reported by BMG highlight a small overall increase of 4 percent compared to the same period in 2024, but a noticeable shift in where the gas is coming from.
Azerbaijan remains Georgia’s dominant supplier, but imports from Baku dropped nearly 6 percent, reaching 171.5 million dollars. Russia moved sharply in the opposite direction. Georgian purchases from the Russian side grew by 23 percent, totaling 114.9 million dollars. The two neighbors are the only countries connected to Georgia by pipeline, meaning they are the country’s sole physical sources of imported gas.
Georgia also serves as a transit corridor for gas flows between Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia. In return for allowing east-west transit, Tbilisi receives discounted volumes under long-standing contracts. The most important of these deals is tied to so-called “offtake gas,” calculated as a percentage of the gas Azerbaijan sends onward to Turkey. Georgia can purchase up to 5 percent of that transit volume at preferential prices.
A second arrangement guarantees Georgia 500 million cubic meters per year at a fixed amount, regardless of how much gas is actually transited through the pipeline. These provisions help stabilize costs, but they do not fully shield the country from broader market realities, including seasonal demand spikes and supplier fluctuations.
The latest shift matters politically as well as economically. Georgia has traditionally relied overwhelmingly on Azerbaijani gas, a relationship seen as strategically important. Rising Russian volumes do not indicate any stated policy change, but they will likely draw attention in Tbilisi and abroad, especially given the country’s tense political climate and its ongoing disputes with Brussels and domestic opposition parties.
