Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said late on Monday that his oil-rich country could live without Russian gas after facing steep price rises for imports from Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom.
"We can live without Russian gas," Aliyev told government ministers at a meeting shown on national television. He ordered Azerbaijan's state oil and gas company to boost gas output.
Azerbaijan, which controls giant Caspian oil and gas reserves, is unsasitfied by price rises for Russian gas.
Gazprom has offered to supply Azerbaijan with gas at $235 per 1,000 cubic metres.
Azerbaijan bought about 4.5 billion cubic metres from Gazprom at $110 per 1,000 cubic metres in 2006, down from 4.6 billion cubic metres at $60 in 2005.
