(Bloomberg) -- Azerbaijan is in talks to expand exports of natural gas to at least three more countries in Europe.
The Caspian Sea nation is in negotiations with potential new buyers, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said at the Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, Italy, without naming the countries. Azerbaijan already supplies gas to eight nations in Europe and has an agreement with the region to double exports by 2027.
Aliyev also confirmed that Moscow and Kyiv have approached him to facilitate the transit of gas through Ukraine to Europe when a key agreement ends in December.
Europe is looking for new gas deals to try to bolster supplies after flows from Russia were reduced in 2022. Flows could be squeezed further when a deal that allows Russian gas to transit Ukraine to the European Union expires at the end of the year. It’s unclear whether a workaround can be found. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would not allow Russia to profit from sending gas through the country’s pipelines.
Zelenskiy told Bloomberg in an interview in July that his country was in talks to send gas from Azerbaijan to the EU. A deal to replace Russian gas with Azeri supplies is “one of the proposals” currently being discussed, Zelenskiy said at the time.
One solution could be swapping out Russian supply for gas from another country like Azerbaijan or Turkey. This would allow Ukraine to continue to receive transit fees for use of its network and for Europe to keep getting gas.
Azerbaijan exported 24 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year with half of the volumes going to Europe, according to Energy Ministry data. Exports to Europe are expected to reach 13 billion cubic meters this year with Italy being the largest buyer. The others are Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia, which started receiving supplies this week.
“We just want to support those countries (in Europe) and Ukraine,” he said. “We have a certain optimism, I think there is ground for a breakthrough.”
The EU has tried to wean itself off Russian gas but countries like Austria and Slovakia continue to receive it through the pipeline that crosses Ukraine.
--With assistance from Alberto Brambilla.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
