The national gas system operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia yesterday agreed to boost the transfer of natural gas from Azerbaijan using the existing infrastructure of their countries, which were until recently highly dependent on Russian energy.

Euronews says Azerbaijan’s President, Ilham Aliyev, called the signing of the agreement between the European nations and the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan “a very timely step” that would bring bigger and more secure gas supplies to many more countries in Europe.

Aliyev reportedly attended the signing ceremony in Sofia, Bulgaria's capital.

Bulgaria is linked to the Southern Gas Corridor, a multi-segment pipeline project to get natural gas from Azerbaijan to Italy, through an inter-connector with Greece. The connector allows for the delivery of 1 billion cubic meters of Caspian gas to Bulgaria, covering nearly one-third of the country's needs, and has capacity to increase the volume to up to 5 billion cubic meters annually.

According to the agreement on cooperation with the European Union, which was signed in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in early February this year, Azerbaijan plans to double natural gas exports by 2027. 

The meeting was attended by representatives of the EU, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Britain, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States.  The EU was represented by Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.