Azerbaijan is ready to supply gas to Ukraine
6 August 16:45
Azerbaijan has stated its readiness to supply Ukraine with natural gas should the need arise. The country also plans to expand its cooperation with Kyiv in the energy sector.
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made this statement during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to Bayramov, energy cooperation is one of the key areas of economic relations between the two countries.
“We will be happy to supply gas to our friend Ukraine if necessary. At the same time, I believe there is also an opportunity for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine in the field of energy security—across a broader geographic area, particularly through the use of Ukrainian gas storage facilities. We consider this a very promising area for our future cooperation,” the Azerbaijani foreign minister noted.
He noted that the state-owned energy company SOCAR has been operating in Ukraine for many years and has further plans to develop joint projects.
“SOCAR continues to operate very actively in Ukraine and has big plans for the future. An active dialogue is currently underway regarding new mutually beneficial areas of energy cooperation,” Bayramov said.
Azerbaijan already supplies gas to 16 countries worldwide, 12 of which are in Europe. Ten of them are members of the European Union.
Azerbaijan as an Alternative to Russia
As a reminder, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev previously proposed his country as an alternative to Russia for supplying oil and gas to Europe.
Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan is ready to increase natural gas supplies to Germany beyond the current 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, but this requires additional orders from importers and the expansion of the pipeline network
He reported that this year Azerbaijan began supplying gas to Germany under a ten-year contract. Total exports of Azerbaijani gas last year amounted to 25 billion cubic meters, a significant portion of which was directed to Europe.
Aliyev emphasized that the potential for increasing supplies is currently limited by the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor.
“Both the TAP and TANAP gas pipelines are operating at full capacity. Now we need new interconnections and new pipelines. This requires investment funds,” he said.
The President of Azerbaijan also called on European banks to reconsider restrictions on financing gas and oil infrastructure projects. “European banks, particularly the European Investment Bank, have stopped supporting gas and oil projects due to so-called green projects. This infrastructure must first be expanded,” Aliyev said.
According to him, if access to financing is restored, Azerbaijan will be able to gradually increase gas exports to other European countries as well.
It was also previously reported that the Czech Republic wants to transport Azerbaijani gas and oil through Ukraine. Currently, Hungary and Slovakia remain the only EU countries that depend on Russian oil and gas. The European Union plans to completely halt energy imports from Russia by the end of 2027 to deprive Moscow of the revenue needed to finance the war against Ukraine.
