Russia’s Gazprom has increased flows to Hungary through the Turkstream pipeline that carries natural gas to Hungary via Serbia, a Hungarian foreign ministry official said today, Reuters reported.
Hungary is maintaining “realistic relations” with Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, raising tensions with some European Union allies keen to take a harder line.
Hungary, which is about 85% dependent on Russian gas, strongly opposes the idea of any EU sanctions on Russian gas imports and Prime Minister Viktor Orban has also pushed hard to secure an exemption from EU import sanctions Russian crude oil.
Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last month, seeking an additional 700 million cubic meters of natural gas on top of the existing long-term supply agreement with Russia.
Under the ensuing deal, Gazprom began increasing gas flows to Hungary on Friday, Hungarian Deputy Foreign Minister Tamas Menczer said in a statement.
Menczer said Gazprom would add an additional 2.6 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to previously agreed Turkstream deliveries through August, while the amount of September deliveries is under negotiation.
Hungary’s reserves held 2.84 billion cubic meters of natural gas by mid-July, the lowest level for this period in five years, according to data from the national energy regulator.
Under an agreement signed last year, before the war in neighboring Ukraine began, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year through Bulgaria and Serbia under its long-term deal with Russia, and an additional 1 billion cubic meters meters by pipeline from Austria.
The agreement with Gazprom is for 15 years, with the option to modify the purchased quantities after 10 years.
Source: Capital
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