BUDAPEST, April 4. /TASS/. Hungary and Romania have increased the throughput capacity of the gas pipeline between the two countries and made a decision to supply gas extracted from the Black Sea shelf, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto reported on Tuesday following a meeting with Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu in Bucharest.

"We have done our homework and upgraded the capacity of the connector linking the two countries’ gas pipeline systems to 2.5 bln cubic meters. It was decided to construct a pipeline to deliver natural gas from the Black Sea to the Hungarian border," Szijjarto wrote on Facebook (a social media site banned in Russia since it is owned by Meta corporation deemed extremist by Russian authorities).

Hungary and Romania "are counting on natural gas from Azerbaijan, while on the other hand, they expect the start of production at Black Sea fields," he added.

Last year Romania received its first shipment of Black Sea offshore gas. Production started at the Ana field in the Midia perimeter under the supervision of the Bucharest-headquartered international company Black Sea Oil & Gas. Production in the perimeter is projected at around 1 bln cubic meters annually over the next three years out of the ten that the section will be exploited.

Romania’s government believes that this provides even greater opportunities to develop the Southern Gas Corridor, through which gas will also be delivered to Europe from Azerbaijan. It is expected that substantial additional gas volumes will become available to the Southern and Eastern European markets in 2026-2027.

Hungary plans to receive gas from Azerbaijan and intends to diversify sources and routes of energy supplies. That said, the country’s government has repeatedly stated that it plans to maintain long-term contracts with current suppliers, including Gazprom, with no intention to abandon them for political reasons.