Azerbaijan-brokered deal to maintain gas flow to EU via Ukraine fails

Moscow and Kyiv have failed to reach an agreement on a deal to continue Russian gas exports to Europe via Ukraine, brokered by Azerbaijan, a senior source at Azerbaijani energy company SOCAR told Reuters.

Euractiv writes This development appears to end hopes that gas transiting via Ukraine could continue to flow after Dec. 31, when a long-term gas transit contract between Moscow and Kyiv ends.

Ukraine, fighting Russia’s invasion since February 2022, has made it plain for months that it would not extend the gas transit plan with Russia. Slovakia and other countries receiving gas from Russia, transited via pipelines in Ukraine, were in talks to try to avoid those flows stopping when the agreement runs out. The European Union and Ukraine had asked Azerbaijan to facilitate discussions with Russia about a gas transit deal to keep gas flowing. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that it was clear there would be no new deal with Kyiv to send Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe. Ukraine has said it will not extend a contract under which close to 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of Russian gas are sent to Europe each year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in turn, said that Kyiv could consider continued transit of Russian gas, but only on condition that Moscow did not receive payment until after the war – a condition it was unlikely to accept. The SOCAR source said SOCAR had been mediating in negotiations between Ukrainian and Russian energy companies for almost a year, at the request of Ukraine and the European Union. As noted, senior managers had met senior representatives of Ukrainian energy companies on May 2 in Istanbul and on Aug. 29 in Vienna, adding: “In the end, the Ukrainian and Russian sides could not agree on the terms.” SOCAR, the Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine’s state-run Naftogaz did not immediately reply to requests for official comment.