State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and Greek National Gas Company DEPA signed a memorandum of mutual understanding in Baku on Tuesday.

Greece will become the first European country to which Azerbaijan will export its gas directly, President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said.

According to him, the Azerbaijani gas has been exported to Greece through the Turkish state pipeline company Botas since 2007. However, today SOCAR and DEPA are holding talks on the diversion of the contracts between Turkey and Greece for direct gas export by SOCAR.

Greece consumes about 700 million cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas annually, Trend News reports.

Following the contract’s signing, Azerbaijan will sell its gas without an intermediary. The transfer will be the country’s first direct gas transport to Europe, Abdullayev said.

President of Greece Karolos Papoulias  is on an official visit to Azerbaijan.