BUDAPEST, January 10. /TASS/. The suspension of Russian gas transit by Ukraine from January 1 does not threaten Hungarian households and industry with a fuel shortage, but it does lead to a significant increase in market prices, Hungary’s Energy Ministry said.
"The suspension of gas transit through Ukraine in the new year does not pose a direct threat to uninterrupted supplies [to Hungary], but, as has already become clear, it leads to a significant increase in market prices," the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
The ministry noted that now, by the middle of the winter heating season, Hungarian gas storage facilities "are still two-thirds full."
"The volume of reserves, amounting to about 4.5 bln cubic meters, is one and a half times higher than the annual needs of the population," the ministry noted.
According to its calculations, in 2024, as a year ago, "the country's total gas needs amounted to about 8.5 bln cubic meters, of which households accounted for 3 bln cubic meters."
The ministry noted that in 2021, before the start of the global energy crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Russia, gas consumption in Hungary reached 11.2 billion cubic meters.
"Since then, consumption has decreased by about a quarter, and the data for 2024 allow us to talk about significant savings," the ministry added.
"Reduced consumption increases the reliability of supplies for domestic consumers. Import risks are also reduced by increasing domestic production," the ministry said.
Gas supplies from Russia
Hungary has suffered much less from Ukraine's suspension of Russian gas transit than other Central and Eastern European countries, including Austria and Slovakia. It still receives most of its fuel under long-term contracts with Gazprom via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia. In 2022, the country received 4.8 bln cubic meters of gas via this route. According to Hungarian data, this figure increased to 5.6 bln cubic meters in 2023, and exceeded 7 bln cubic meters in 2024.
The northern supply route via Ukraine has been little used recently, although the Hungarian government and MVM CEEnergy, which has contracts with Gazprom Export, have noted that they would like to keep it as a backup in the interests of energy security. Overall, Hungary imports about 9 bln cubic meters of gas per year.
Earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Kiev's halting of gas transit from Russia does not comply with the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which provides for the preservation of energy supply routes. The minister called the actions of the Ukrainian authorities unacceptable.