Slovakia is moving to secure a long-term natural gas contract with Azerbaijan for at least ten years as it accelerates its exit from Russian energy dependencies. Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba announced the negotiations, emphasizing that Azerbaijan has proven to be a highly reliable partner in Bratislava's efforts to diversify its energy mix ahead of the European Union's mandatory November 1, 2027, deadline to phase out all Russian gas imports.
While Slovakia has historically remained one of the few EU nations heavily reliant on Russian fossil fuels, receiving oil via the Druzhba pipeline and gas through TurkStream, a major geopolitical shift forced the country's hand earlier this year. A Russian strike on Ukraine on January 27, 2026, completely halted oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline, prompting Bratislava to drastically speed up its search for alternative energy suppliers, News.Az reports, citing RBC-Ukraine.
The current negotiations build on a successful foundation, as Azerbaijan's state oil company SOCAR began delivering gas to Slovakia's largest energy operator, SPP, under a pilot program back in 2024. Active talks are now underway to finalize the logistical routing and exact supply volumes required for the decade-long transition.
Slovakia's pivot mirrors a broader European trend of rejecting Russian energy, which has forced Moscow to attempt a costly and logistically complex redirection of its exports toward Asia. In the meantime, Western alternatives have surged to fill the void; the United States has aggressively boosted its liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments to Europe, with American suppliers already covering roughly two-thirds of the EU's total LNG imports.
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