Europe Gas Buyers Near Azeri Deal to Maintain Ukraine Flows
- Transit pact for Russian gas via Ukraine expires at year’s end
- Slovakia and Austria still import Russian supplies by pipeline
Employees work on gas pipes at an underground gas storage facility.
Photographer: Vincent Mundy/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
European buyers are nearing a commercial agreement with Azerbaijan to keep natural gas flowing to the continent after a transit deal between Russia and Ukraine expires at the end of the year.
Companies from Hungary and Slovakia are close to signing a contract for as much as 12-14 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Azerbaijan, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It would use the same pipeline network that now carries Russian gas across Ukraine to the European Union.