European countries, Azerbaijan agree to boost gas transfers

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — The national gas system operators of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia have agreed to boost the transfer of natural gas from Azerbaijan using the existing infrastructure of their countries. Until recently, the European countries were highly dependent on Russian energy. Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, called the signing of the agreement with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Tuesday “a very timely step” that would bring bigger and more secure gas supplies to many more countries in Europe. Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is trying to diversify European energy sources away from Russian gas.