KIEV, Sept 19 (Askume) – Ukraine has agreed to send Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe as a temporary measure after terminating a transit agreement with Russia, Ukraine’s Pravda newspaper said on Thursday. Temporary measure.
Ukraine’s gas shipping agreement with Russian giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) is due to expire at the end of this year, and Kiev has said it does not want to renew it amid the war between the two countries.
However, some Central European countries still rely on gas from Russia, which is piped through Ukraine – as they are not subject to the EU ban on Russian gas imports – and are keen to continue receiving supplies.
An Azerbaijani official said the EU and Kiev had asked Baku to facilitate discussions with Russia and that a possible option was for Azerbaijan to buy Russian gas in order to export some of the gas to the EU.
“Ukraine Pravda” quoted a Ukrainian government source as saying: “We understand that it will take time for the EU to completely abandon Russian gas. We are taking this step to make this transition easier for the EU.”
Ukraine is said to be willing to support this arrangement, even though some of the Russian gas may be blended with Azerbaijani gas.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry declined to comment.
A source in Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry and another source in its energy company SOCAR rejected the report in an interview with Askume.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said last week that he was optimistic about a breakthrough in negotiations to continue gas shipments through Ukraine to several European countries .
By 2024, Russia’s natural gas transportation volume through Ukraine is expected to reach 14 billion cubic meters.
