MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Hungary requires that the European Union does not obstruct implementation of the TurkStream gas pipeline project, so that Central Europe has an opportunity to receive Russian gas through it, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said following the talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday.
"West Europe will be able to purchase gas via the northern route. We, the Central Europe, demands this right for ourselves. We require that West Europe and Brussels do not put a spoke in wheel, so that we have an opportunity to receive gas from the south [via the TurkStream - TASS]," the minister said.
Budapest is interested in gas supplies over the TurkStream gas pipeline when its second line will be built, Szijjarto said. "We agreed with Serbia and Bulgaria that we, all three countries, will develop our network in a way that when the second line of the TurkStream is built, we will buy gas from it," the minister said.
"We hope Central Europe will be able to expand energy cooperation in Russia similarly to its expansion by West Europe," he added.
In May 2017, Gazprom began construction of the offshore section of the TurkStream near the Russian Black Sea coast. The project involved construction of the gas pipeline through the Black Sea to the European part of Turkey and further to the border with Greece. The length of the sea part of the pipe is expected at around 930 km, the overland part on the Turkish territory - 180 km.
The first line will be intended for the Turkish market, the second - for gas supply to the countries of South and South-Eastern Europe. The capacity of each line reaches 15.75 bln cubic meters of gas per year.