VIENNA, December 2 /TASS/. Hungary will have to search for new gas supply sources to replace the South Stream pipeline, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday.

Hungarian news agency MTI quoted the minister as saying that gas deliveries from Azerbaijan could increase Hungary’s gas imports.

“Russia had the right to make this decision, and Hungary recognizes it,” Szijjarto said commenting on Russia’s decision to abandon the South Stream gas pipeline voiced on Monday. The Hungarian authorities, who were participants and also active advocates of the South Stream project, passed a special law early in November that allowed launching the construction bypassing the EU restrictions. For example, the Hungarian lawmakers adopted amendments allowing companies, including those which did not have appropriate licenses, to be involved in the pipeline’s construction.

European companies to lose €2.5 bln on frozen South Stream project

The direct losses European companies are going to suffer due to termination of South Stream ammount to €2.5 billion, according to the South Stream Transport Company.

German Europipe was supposed to supply 50% of pipes for the first spur of the South Stream pipeline under a contract worth €500 million.

In March this year, South Stream Transport B.V and Italian Saipem signed a contract for laying the South Stream’s first spur. Saipem is a sister company of Italian ENI, which acted as a contractor for laying pipes under the Blue Stream and Nord Stream projects. The contract was valued at €2 billion.

The same South Stream Transport B.V. and the Swiss Allseas Group signed a contract for building the second spur of the South Stream’s offshore section in deep waters. Another contract was signed with Italian Saipem for the provision of construction services. The price of the contract was kept secret.

Vladimir Putin's on Tuesday said Russia cannot begin the implementation of the South Stream project. The Russian president said so on Monday after his meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. Russia, according to the president, cannot begin the construction of the seabed section to the Bulgarian coast and is forced to revise its participation in the project.