Viktor Orbán’s government has quietly begun diversifying gas supplies to Hungary, although it officially says there is no alternative to Russian gas, the Hungarian G7 portal wrote. According to the cited experts, the possibilities of importing gas from various directions significantly exceed the Hungarian demand.
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“Although Hungary has gas connections with all neighboring countries except Slovenia, before the energy crisis, the possibilities of importing gas from directions other than Russia were used to a limited extent,” the portal writes.
As the G7 emphasized, in the pre-crisis years, about 70 percent. Imported Russian gas went to Hungary via Ukraine and Slovakia, the rest from Austria. However, other delivery methods are still available and will be phased in in 2022.
“Last year, about 1 billion cubic meters of gas arrived in Hungary from Romania and Croatia, which is a significant increase compared to previous years,” said Gabor Szokodi of the G7-cited gas sector company FGSZ.
According to experts reached by the G7 portal, “Russian gas clearly does not come from Croatia, while gas from Romania may come from Russia, but not necessarily, because Romania has a significant amount of raw materials in its own production.” In addition, the import of gas from the Slovak direction increased, which should not come from Russia.
“In total, more than 13 billion cubic meters of gas can be imported from Austria, Romania, Croatia and Slovakia per year, i.e. 30 percent. More than Hungary’s total annual demand,” the G7 estimates.
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“All this indicates that there is a real opportunity to replace Russian gas, or at least a sensible diversification of supply sources. The question is whether there is political and commercial will,” the portal concludes.
Representatives of Viktor Orbán’s government keep repeating that the EU should place particular emphasis on diversifying gas supplies.
In September 2021, Hungary signed a long-term, 15-year contract with Russia’s Gazprom for the supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters. of gas per year. It is distributed via Serbia and Austria, excluding Ukraine, thus losing transport costs.
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#Gazprom
# Vayu
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# Hungary
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# Victor Orban
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