diff --git a/portkey_ai/api_resources/utils.py b/portkey_ai/api_resources/utils.py
index bd124b8a..fef256aa 100644
--- a/portkey_ai/api_resources/utils.py
+++ b/portkey_ai/api_resources/utils.py
@@ -385,9 +385,9 @@ def get_headers(self) -> Optional[Dict[str, str]]:
 
 
 def apikey_from_env(provider: Union[ProviderTypes, ProviderTypesLiteral, str]) -> str:
-    env_key = f"{provider.upper().replace('-', '_')}_API_KEY"
     if provider is None:
         return ""
+    env_key = f"{provider.upper().replace('-', '_')}_API_KEY"
     if env_key in os.environ and os.environ[env_key]:
         return os.environ.get(env_key, "")
 
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..07b3b6fc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+from portkey_ai.api_resources.utils import apikey_from_env
+
+
+def test_apikey_from_env_none_returns_empty():
+    # A None provider must return "" (the guard used to sit after
+    # provider.upper(), so this raised AttributeError instead).
+    assert apikey_from_env(None) == ""
+
+
+def test_apikey_from_env_reads_environment(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("OPENAI_API_KEY", "sk-test-123")
+    assert apikey_from_env("openai") == "sk-test-123"
+
+
+def test_apikey_from_env_normalizes_dashes(monkeypatch):
+    monkeypatch.setenv("AZURE_OPENAI_API_KEY", "sk-azure")
+    assert apikey_from_env("azure-openai") == "sk-azure"