BUDAPEST, December 3. /TASS/. The calls of EU leaders to reject Russian gas are nothing more than political propaganda, as there is no alternative to Russian gas supplies to Hungary yet, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at a hearing in the economic committee of the national parliament.
"Those who insist that we should not buy Russian gas either want to make money by selling their more expensive gas, or simply do not know what the transport energy map of the world and our region looks like," he said. His speech was broadcast on the website of the legislative body.
Szijjarto recalled that Hungary receives Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia, while the system of other pipelines in the region is unable to cope with similar loads. Hungary, along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Greece and Turkey, asked the European Commission to allocate funds for the upgrade of the gas transportation system in Southeastern Europe, but "in response received zero euros." But if there is no cheaper or more reliable source than Russian gas, then calls to abandon it are "nothing more than political propaganda," the minister stressed.
On actions of Western Europe
Szijjarto also drew attention to hypocritical nature of such calls from Western European countries, which themselves continue to buy Russian raw materials. "Why did France increase its import of Russian liquefied natural gas by 110% in the first half of this year? Why does 87% of Russian LNG arriving in French ports go to Belgium and Spain? While Russia's share in Indian oil imports has increased 70-fold why has Germany increased its imports from India by 11-fold? I wonder why this is so?" the Foreign Minister said.
"If we are talking about the security of the country's energy supply, then we must take into account the reliability of supply and competitive price, and not the commercial interests of those who want to import more expensive energy resources to Hungary," Szijjarto stressed. He confirmed that Hungary is seeking to diversify its sources and routes of gas supplies and has begun to receive fuel from Azerbaijan and Turkey for this purpose, but still counts on long-term contracts with Russian partners to ensure its energy security.
Contracts with Gazprom
Hungary still receives most of its gas from Russia. In September 2021, the Hungarian company MVM CEEnergy signed two contracts with Gazprom for a period of 10 years with the possibility of a 5-year extension, which provided for annual deliveries of 4.5 billion cubic meters. Gas was to be supplied to Hungary via two routes bypassing Ukraine: through Austria in the amount of 1 billion cubic meters per year, as well as via the TurkStream pipeline and its branches through Bulgaria and Serbia in the amount of 3.5 billion cubic meters. It was assumed that Russian gas would be supplied to the Austrian hub in Baumgarten, one of the largest in Europe, via Nord Stream, but when this pipeline was halted after sabotage, it was necessary to use the route running to Austria through Ukraine and Slovakia. Now deliveries from Baumgarten to Hungary are carried out only from time to time and in small volumes. In October 2022, MVM and Gazprom reached an agreement to increase supplies via the southern route via Turkey, while gas transportation via Ukraine began to decline. In 2022, 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas were delivered to Hungary via TurkStream and its extension via Bulgaria and Serbia. According to Hungarian data, this figure increased to 5.6 billion cubic meters in 2023. As Szijjarto noted earlier, 6.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas had been delivered to Hungary from Russia as of the end of October this year.