EU: Towards a new agreement with Azerbaijan for the import of natural gas

The European Union is set to sign a new gas import deal with Azerbaijan, CNBC reports, citing a source in the bloc, as European officials step up their pace to secure energy security deals for the 27-nation bloc, in the shadow of a possible universal interruption of Russian flows to Europe.

Europe has been preparing for such a prospect since the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow a key supplier of gas to the Old Continent for decades and Brussels now in the midst of an intensive effort to reverse energy dependence on the Russian factor.

Russia has denied that it is tooling natural gas to hurt the West, but deliveries have fallen by 60% in recent weeks and the shutdown of the Russian-German Nord Stream 1 pipeline for maintenance has heightened concerns that Moscow could cut off supplies natural gas.

“You can expect a commitment agreement to significantly increase flows from Azerbaijan to the EU in the coming years,” said an EU official with knowledge of the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions are ongoing.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simpson are visiting Azerbaijan today to seal the deal. The President of the Commission is expected to make joint statements with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in the afternoon.

Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, has an outlet to the Caspian Sea and borders Turkey, Armenia, Russia and Iran. It began exporting gas through the TAP pipeline to Europe in late 2020. At the time, it said it planned to send 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe each year, mainly to Italy, but also to Greece and Bulgaria.