Gas from Azerbaijan part of Ukraine transit talks, Slovakia's Fico says

Slovak PM Fico Discusses Azerbaijani Gas Transit in Ukraine Talks

(Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday the possibility of shipping Azerbaijani gas was part of discussions with the European Commission on restarting transit flows through Ukraine.

Fico got the issue of Ukraine's halt to gas transit mentioned in the conclusions of a summit of European Union leaders on Thursday, after threatening to block any final declaration without it.

Slovakia stopped receiving Russian gas supplies via Ukraine at the end of last year after Kyiv declined to renew an agreement with Moscow, trying to deprive Russia of revenue to fund its invasion.

The move angered Fico and Slovakia as it hit the country's own transit operations and forced it to find different routes for supplies. Fico, seeking a resumption of flows, says the halt has hit prices and hurt the EU's competitiveness.

On Friday, Fico said the possibility of transiting Azerbaijani gas through Ukraine using swap operations was part of discussions. The economy minister would discuss it in Brussels on Friday, he said.

In Thursday's summit conclusions, EU leaders called on the Commission, Slovakia and Ukraine to "intensify efforts towards finding workable solutions to the gas transit issue, while taking into consideration the concerns raised by Slovakia."

The EU has sought to cut its remaining reliance on energy from Russia since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Slovakia said in January it saw the option of shipping gas from Azerbaijan via Ukraine as being back on the table. Last year, Slovakia's main gas buyer SPP signed a short-term pilot contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan.

Since the Ukraine transit halt, Slovakia has relied on supplies from Hungary, which mostly takes Russian gas through TurkStream and the Balkans.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Aidan Lewis)