BUDAPEST, April 3. /TASS/. Hungary’s government does not intend to turn away from working with reliable gas suppliers for political reasons, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told a conference on Monday.
"We will not abandon contracts with reliable gas suppliers for political reasons," he said. Hungary does not intend to change "the geographical direction" of fuel supplies, the minister added, noting that the diversification of energy sources and their supply routes entails not only searching for new opportunities, but also utilizing previous options.
Deliveries of liquified natural gas (LNG) to the European market cannot offset the volumes lost thus far due to the sanctions-driven reduction in Russian gas imports, Szijjarto said. According to his calculations, this year’s Russian gas supplies to Europe are expected to be lower than in previous years by around 50 bln cubic meters. "The capacities of terminals to receive LNG in Europe do not permit offsetting such volumes," the minister said. Hungary believes the shortfall can be resolved through diversification of gas supplies and further development of Europe’s LNG infrastructure overall, he added.
The Hungarian government has repeatedly stated that it considered Gazprom a reliable partner and that Budapest planned to continue working with the Russian gas giant. The Central European country obtains the bulk of its gas supplies via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia. Last year 4.8 bln cubic meters of natural gas was delivered to Hungarian consumers via this route.