Azerbaijan plans to start gas supplies to 2 more European countries in 2026 – President

Azerbaijan plans to start gas deliveries to another two European countries in 2026, bringing the total number of countries importing its gas to 16, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

"Our gas exports are growing both in terms of volume and geographical coverage. We currently export gas to 14 countries, including to 11 on a regular basis," Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels.

Some countries received Azerbaijani gas in 2024 but later ceased purchases owing to the availability of alternative sources, Aliyev said. "But that's kind of on-demand supplies. When they need it, we start supplies. When they don't, we stop them. But on the whole, geographical coverage of pipeline gas [supplies] from Azerbaijan includes 14 countries, and two more European countries will join them this year. Hence, there'll be 16 of them in total, and that's the largest number in terms of pipeline gas deliveries," he said.

No other country supplies pipeline gas to as many countries as Azerbaijan does, he said.

"Last year, our exports exceeded 25 billion cubic meters, with potential to grow further," he said.

Azerbaijan particularly intends to increase gas shipments to Syria, Aliyev said.

Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov had said earlier that the country's gas exports to Europe totaled 12.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2025.

As reported previously, Azerbaijan exported 25.2 bcm of gas in 2024, including 12.9 bcm, or 51% of all exports, to Europe. Hence, its exports to Europe in 2025 decreased by 0.8%.

Azerbaijan currently has contacts for supplying gas to 12 European countries, i.e. Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Germany, and Ukraine. This includes long-term contracts with Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria with a fixed supply volume and a contract with Germany's Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE) for 10 years, under which the annual volume of supply should gradually increase to 15 terawatt-hours (TWh), which is around 1.5 billion bcm. Contracts without exact purchase volumes have been signed with the remaining countries.

Azerbaijan also exports gas to Türkiye via the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), and to Georgia via the SCP and Gazimagomed-Gazakh pipeline.

Apart from that, Azerbaijan began exporting gas to Syria via Türkiye on August 2, 2025. The supply volume is 3.4 million cubic meters per day at the initial stage and should subsequently increase to 6 million cubic meters.