PressSplit
Ukraine intends to terminate a gas supply contract with Russia. Another option is emerging. However, the process could take longer than expected.
Bratislava – An important gas supply contract that allows Russian gas to be piped through Ukraine to Europe will expire at the end of 2024. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj had already announced early on that he did not want to extend this agreement – no more Russian gas would be allowed to flow through the country attacked by Russia. As a result, several European countries targeted Azerbaijan.
Because of the end of the Ukraine-Russia deal – EU countries are looking for gas replacement
Although many European countries have drastically reduced or even stopped their imports of Russian natural gas, there are some that have not yet managed to phase out 100 percent. Hungary and Slovakia, among others, are still partly tied to Russian natural gas. To compensate for these exports, they turned to Azerbaijan. According to one BloombergAccording to a report from the summer of 2024, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that Ukraine and the EU had asked his country for help in supplying gas.
Important Russia contract expires – information about replacement “not correct” © IMAGO/Ukraine Presidency via Bestimage
A few months later, at the end of October Bloomberg reports that the negotiating parties are already very close to a deal – this could enable gas deliveries of between twelve and 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year. A Slovakian energy provider has now contradicted this information.
Opposite the news agency Reuters SPP, a gas importer owned by the Slovak state, stated that this was not true. “We regularly discuss this issue with our partners, but the information about an imminent solution to the gas supply contract involving SPP is incorrect,” the statement said.
Slovakia reduces gas imports from Russia – other dependency threatens
Since the summer of 2022, Slovakia has drastically reduced imports of Russian gas. The EU Commission announced in 2023 that their share of total imports fell from 85 percent to around 50 percent within a year. To achieve this, the country is increasingly relying on nuclear power. However, a new problem arises here: in order to operate its nuclear power plants, Slovakia needs nuclear material, and it obtains most of this from Russia. Here too, a disconnection is currently taking place, although this is difficult because of Russia’s high dominance in the nuclear sector.
How Kyiv Independent reported that Slovakia continues to receive several billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year. The Azerbaijan deal is intended to change that – but time is running out, because from January 1, 2025, Russian gas will no longer flow through Ukraine. Due to Slovakia’s geographical location, the country cannot easily switch to LNG deliveries by sea. It is unclear how the country plans to compensate for the lack of gas deliveries.
Free from Russian gas – EU is determined to stop transports
Europe had repeatedly shown itself determined to abandon Russian gas once and for all. The continent is “ready to live without Russian gas coming via the Ukrainian transit route,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson announced in September. Countries such as Hungary, Austria and Slovakia were given additional time to reduce dependency.
Since the start of the Ukraine war, Ukraine’s western allies have adopted a series of sanctions that are ultimately intended to weaken Russia’s economy. Since Russia generates high revenues from the sale of oil and gas, the energy sector is one of the main “battlefields” in the sanctions war. Russia, in turn, is constantly looking for new ways to circumvent various Western sanctions.
