Ukraine signed an agreement with Azerbaijanis from SOCAR to import gas via the Trans-Balkan route

Ukraine’s state-owned energy company Naftogaz said on Monday it had signed its first agreement with Azerbaijan’s SOCAR group to import natural gas via the Trans-Balkan route, Reuters reported.

“For the first time, a test gas delivery is being made via the Trans-Balkan route, along the Bulgaria-Romania-Ukraine corridor,” Naftogaz said in a statement posted on its website.

The agreement is for a small volume of gas, the Ukrainian company said, without indicating when the deliveries would take place.

“It is a small volume, but a step of strategic importance that paves the way for long-term cooperation,” Naftogaz CEO Serhiy Koretskyi said.