Germany’s VNG seeks to increase Azerbaijani gas imports

German energy company VNG AG wants to increase its imports of natural gas from Azerbaijan and is open to long-term supply arrangements, a senior company executive said on Tuesday.

VNG has been importing Azerbaijani gas since the beginning of this year, Oliver Hill, the company’s senior vice president, told a German-Azerbaijani conference in Baku.

“The volumes are relatively small at the beginning. This is a first step. We would like to increase those volumes,” Hill said, adding that this was one of the company’s key objectives in its cooperation with Azerbaijan.

VNG and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR agreed several days ago on a long-term partnership covering both natural gas supplies to Europe and cooperation on the energy transition, he said.

Hill said VNG was open to long-term supply cooperation spanning 15 to 20 years.

In the longer term, the two sides also aim to develop supplies of decarbonised energy from Azerbaijan to Europe, potentially including hydrogen and biomethane, he said.