BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 4. Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is an important business partner that can play a significant role in supplies for SPP, Martin Huska, CEO of SPP, a state-owned energy supplier headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, said in an exclusive interview with Trend on the sidelines of the 12th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council and the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council held in Baku on March 3.
“Considering the new European Union legislation and the adoption of the EU Regulation on the gradual phase out of natural gas imports from Russia, SPP is seeking new suppliers capable of delivering the required volumes of natural gas at reasonable prices. Given that we tested cooperation with SOCAR through a pilot project of short-term gas supplies at the end of 2024, our priority is to explore a joint approach to potential long-term natural gas supplies,” he said.
Huska pointed out that one of the pillars of SPP’s commercial strategy in Slovakia is the diversification of natural gas sources.
“Given that our company has concluded several gas supply contracts and currently has secured stable gas deliveries, negotiations with SOCAR are still at an early stage. Therefore, we do not expect any agreements to be concluded during our meetings. A key part of our company’s commercial strategy is to ensure stable natural gas supplies for our customers at reasonable prices. Considering the important role SOCAR plays in the global natural gas market, we expect open negotiations with attractive offers for SPP and Slovakia.
As I mentioned, we consider our pilot project of short-term natural gas supplies from SOCAR to Slovakia to have been successful. It confirmed for us that SOCAR is an important business partner that can play a significant role in supplies for SPP. We would therefore certainly like to build on our previous positive experience with our Azerbaijani partner,” he concluded.
SOCAR delivered natural gas to Slovakia’s SPP, the country’s largest state-owned energy supplier in throughout December 2024.
Gas supplies, which began on December 1, 2024, were conducted under a short-term pilot agreement between SOCAR and SPP.