BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11. Azerbaijan is considering bidding on a portion of capacity at an underground gas storage facility (UGSF) in Ukraine near the European Union (EU) border this summer through the SOCAR Trading company, an informed source told Trend.
"To enable Azerbaijan's gas operations in Europe, SOCAR Trading can acquire gas in Ukraine's UGSF by purchasing it at a competitive price from one of the European companies linked to Ukraine's infrastructure, since transporting gas from Azerbaijan to Ukraine is currently not feasible," the source explained.
Based on the source's information, Azerbaijani and European authorities are reportedly planning to discuss the potential use of Russian gas pipelines to transport Azerbaijani gas to the European Union via Ukraine in 2024.
"This option is the subject of negotiations involving many stakeholders. The plan's viability is still up in the air," the source added.
To note, on June 10, Bloomberg said, citing own sources, that officials of the European Union are negotiating with the Ukrainian side to extend the agreement on the transit of Russian gas to the community countries through Ukraine until 2025, and one of the options currently being discussed for continuing transit is the purchase of gas from Azerbaijan, thus eliminating the possibility of purchasing gas from the Russian Federation itself, whose energy resources the EU is trying to refuse.
Meanwhile, the volume of gas in Ukraine's UGSF exceeds 30 billion cubic meters and is one of the largest in Europe.
