VIENNA, April 1. /TASS/. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US will not be able to substitute cheaper pipeline gas coming to Europe from Russia, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in an interview with the Kossuth radio station.
"Replacing cheap Russian gas with expensive American gas will not succeed," he said, adding that he considers such proposals "absurd" and disastrous for the national economy.
In his opinion, one cannot count on transporting sufficient volumes of LNG across the ocean, so there is no alternative to gas supplies from Russia to Europe, in particular to Hungary, in the short term.
Orban recalled that there are countries that, due to their geographical location and peculiarities of economic development, cannot refuse to import Russian oil and gas, simply because they do not have access to the sea. They have neither LNG terminals, nor alternative pipelines stretched to their territories.
"It's not about putting on a pullover in the evening and reducing the heating a little or paying a few forints more for gas, but about the fact that if there are no energy sources from Russia, there will be no energy in Hungary at all," the Hungarian Prime Minister said.
Position of Budapest
In early March, Orban declared that his country would not follow the US example and join the ban on energy trade with Russia. According to him, "this is out of the question" because "it will be an unbearable burden for Hungary."
The Prime Minister noted that 85% of all gas consumed in Hungary comes from Russia. Moreover, 85% of Hungarian households use gas, and the fuel in the country is produced from oil, 64% of which is also supplied by Russia.
In September of 2021, Hungary signed two long-term contracts with Gazprom, which provide for the supply of a total of 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year through pipelines through Serbia and Austria, bypassing Ukraine. The agreement is designed for 15 years and can be reviewed 10 years after the start of implementation.
Several more European countries made it clear that it would be impossible for them to stop buying Russian oil and gas now. However, the European Union is developing long-term plans for the gradual abandonment of energy supplies from Russia in connection with its actions in Ukraine.