Ukraine is ready to continue oil and gas transit to the EU from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, but not from Russia

Kyiv will stop the transit of Russian oil and gas to Europe starting from Jan. 1, 2025, but is ready to continue transiting hydrocarbon fuel from other countries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, according to Novyny.Live, citing Mykhailo Podolyak, the advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

«Yes, it could be any other transit gas coming from Central Asian countries, for example. Europe has already diversified its oil and gas supplies, and exports from Russia do not play the role they did 10 or 15 years ago in Europe. Moreover, let me remind you that the Druzhba oil pipeline will stop operating on Jan. 1, 2025. This pipeline is used for oil supplies to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and our beloved Hungary. According to the EU’s resolution, these countries have to find another way to import oil and stop the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine. The same should apply to gas,» Podolyak said.

He also noted that if any country in Europe wants to import gas from Kazakhstan or Azerbaijan, Ukraine is ready to transport it. Of course, this would require the signing of a contract where Ukraine’s transit role would be specified, Podolyak added.

The Russo-Ukrainian contract on gas transit is expiring at the end of this year and Ukraine has already made its position crystal clear: it won’t extend the agreement.

Three European countries – Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – have been receiving Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline for years. In mid-July, Kyiv stopped the transit of oil exports from Lukoil to Slovakia and Hungary.

Germany used to be the largest buyer of Russian oil before EU sanctions against Moscow. It has since switched to oil imports from Kazakhstan. As some media outlets reported in June, KazMunayGas, the national oil company of Kazakhstan, delivered about 500,000 tons of oil to Germany this year, with plans to supply more than a million tons per year.