Hungary seals Gazprom deal for 5.8mn m3/day of gas
Hungary has agreed a deal with Russia's Gazprom to buy an additional 5.8mn m3/day (2.1bn m3/year) of gas, Hungary's secretary of state for international communications Zoltan Kovacs said on Twitter August 31.
Foreign minister Peter Szijarto had on August 29 said he was seeking 700mn m3 following talks last month with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. Kovacs did not specify how long the new deal would last for, so it was not possible to judge Szijarto against his pledge.
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
Hungary receives around 3.5bn m3/yr of Russian gas via Bulgaria and Serbia under its 15-year purchase agreement with Gazprom, and a further 1bn m3/yr via Austria. The long-term gas supply deal was reached at the end of September last year.
The energy crisis that has arisen in the wake of Moscow's war in Ukraine has blown off course the subsidised energy supply policy of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, despite Orban's historically warm ties with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
An energy emergency in Hungary was declared in the middle of last month, with Orban forced to remove the price ceiling on residential power and gas prices when consumption exceeds the household average.
Gazprom began to expand gas deliveries to Hungary earlier in August, exporting more volumes than agreed and using Turk Stream as an intermediary, the 31.5bn m3/yr pipeline that runs from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea.