Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at a conference in the city of Shusha on Saturday that Ukraine and the EU have asked his country to supply natural gas to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine. Talks are currently underway with the Ukrainian and EU authorities, as well as with Russia, and it seems that all parties are interested in continuing deliveries, Bloomberg reports. “We will help if we can,” Aliyev said. “I think it is possible to extend this agreement,” he added.
Ukraine still wants to be a transit country
Ukraine is trying to maintain its role as a transit country and help ensure the energy security of its western neighbours, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier this month. The agreement to replace Russian gas with supplies from Azerbaijan is “one of the proposals currently being discussed”, Zelensky said in an interview with Bloomberg.
A difficult parting with Russian gas
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU has been trying to limit, and some countries have even completely stopped, supplies of Russian raw materials. However there are countries in Europe that still receive Russian gas via a pipeline running through Ukraine. However, with the war still ongoing, many market observers expect an imminent end to supplies from Russia. The agreement covering Russian gas transit arrangements expires at the end of 2024.
If Russian gas supplies via Ukraine are stopped, countries like Austria and Slovakia will be in serious trouble, Aliyev said, adding that these countries will have to pay “hundreds of millions” more to buy gas elsewhere.
In 2027, 20 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan
In 2022, Azerbaijan signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission under which Azerbaijan is to double its gas exports to Europe. By 2027, 20 billion cubic meters of blue fuel are to flow to the Old Continent. Aliyev says his country is getting closer to this goal every year. Exports to Europe will increase to nearly 13 billion cubic meters this year from 11.8 billion cubic meters in 2023 and 8 billion cubic meters in 2021.
Aliyev said his country’s gas production would increase as a result of new and existing projects in the Caspian Sea.
The supplies will be sent through the so-called Southern Gas Corridor pipeline chain, connecting Azerbaijan with Europe via Georgia and Turkey, Aliyev said.
