EU countries up imports of Azerbaijani gas 2.4% in 8M - Eurostat

BAKU. Nov 7 (Interfax) - European Union countries Italy, Greece and Bulgaria imported 330,264 terajoules (TJ) of natural gas from Azerbaijan in January-August 2024, up 2.4% year on year.

The imports fell by a third in value to 2.769 billion euros, the EU statistics agency (Eurostat) said.

Bulgaria received 24,356 TJ, down 2.9%, for 184.04 million euros, down 16.1%; Greece received 51,606 TJ, a decrease of 8.7%, for 404.162 million euros, down one-third; and Italy received 254,302 TJ, up 5.6%, for 2.181 billion euros, down by a third.

The EU countries reduced gas imports from Azerbaijan 19.4% in August alone to 32,499 TJ worth 284.552 million euros, down 13.1% year-on-year. Greece received 5,170 TJ worth 42.147 million euros, Bulgaria 2,408 TJ worth 18.515 million euros and Italy 24,921 TJ worth 223.89 million euros.

EU countries Italy, Greece and Bulgaria imported 492,900 TJ of gas for 6.2 billion euros from Azerbaijan in 2023, up 2.5% and down 60%, respectively, according to Eurostat.

Azerbaijan has gas supply contracts with eight countries in Europe: Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia. It has long-term contracts with a fixed supply volume with Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, and contracts without fixed volumes with the rest. Serbia is not an EU member, so its gas import data are not included in Eurostat statistics.

Azerbaijani gas exports are forecast at 25 billion cubic meters in 2024, with 12.5 bcm for Europe.