The Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR has announced it is selling natural gas to Austria and Germany. SOCAR has released few details about the supply deal: it is uncertain, if Baku is actually increasing EU-bound gas exports or merely redirecting gas already being exported.

This lack of transparency is fairly common in recent times, with Azerbaijan being more closed about releasing in depth accurate data about their energy companies operations. Previously the Azerbaijan energy ministry used to release regular monthly bulletins on both oil and gas production including details relating to exports. This practice has seemingly ceased in the last year with only sporadic reports being made.

There are concerns that Azerbaijan will not only have trouble meeting its EU commitment but also struggle to meet the very fast-growing domestic demand.