In his turn, Razumkov Centre’s expert and former PR director of "Naftogaz" Maksym Bielawski notes that Azerbaijani gas can be transported to Central Europe, using the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

"There are contracts for the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Bulgaria — approximately 0.6 BCM/year. There is also a potential of increasing deliveries with the release of volumes (about 2 BCM/year) transported to Georgia. This may happen thanks to the development of the Georgian gas field, some 16 BCM were discovered there," says Mr. Bielawski.

He noted quite serious prospects for replacing Russian gas (more than 35%) after the creation of the Turkic Union, to be joined by Turkmenistan, so rich in blue fuel. In this case, gas deliveries to the EU from that region may reach 40 BCM.

Meanwhile, according to the expert, an increase in gas deliveries from the African continent could completely replace the Russian gas in the long run. The Trans-Saharan pipeline, which starts from Nigerian gas fields and runs across Niger and Algeria, looks promising in this regard. From there, gas can be delivered to the EU through the Trans-Mediterranean gas pipeline, the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline and the MEDGAZ pipeline via the hub at the Hassi R’Mel field.