Hungary proposes alternative to Russian gas transit via Ukraine
(Baonghean.vn) - In a recent press conference, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto proposed changing the transit plan for Russian gas through Ukraine. Accordingly, the amount of Russian gas entering Hungary through Ukraine could be redirected through the "Turkish Stream".
“Hungary has taken timely measures in an effort to diversify not only the sources of supply, but also the routes. It is very important that there is also the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, because its capacity to Hungary is 8.5 billion cubic meters of gas. And it can completely cover all Russian gas to Hungary under a long-term contract,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
Mr. Szijjarto stressed that Hungary sees energy security as a material issue, not an ideological or political one, and considers diversifying its resources as much as possible, rather than “changing the geographical direction” of energy dependence.
Hungary and Russian energy giant Gazprom signed a contract in September 2021 to supply 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually over the next 15 years. Of this, 3.5 billion cubic meters will go through the Turkish Stream pipeline, which runs through the Black Sea, and 1 billion cubic meters will go through Austria. Under the contract, Russia will supply Hungary with 12.3 million cubic meters of gas per day.
In August 2022, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto announced the signing of an agreement with Gazprom, according to which from September 1, 2023, an additional 5.8 million cubic meters of gas will be supplied to Hungary via the Turkish Stream and Serbia every day.
Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has repeatedly stressed that Europe has “lost” the energy war with Russia, by rejecting supplies from Moscow in favor of energy sources from the United States. As a result, Europe is forced to pay exorbitant energy costs, from 5 to 10 times higher.