Economy
Hungary energy authority reassures gas supply is secured
The five storage facilities also contain the so-called safety/strategic stock, 1.2 million cubic metres of natural gas. This did not have to be tapped yet, stressed Scherer.
His remarks are in contrast with what local daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported on Monday, on the basis of data provided by natural gas storage company Magyar Földgáztároló Zrt. and MMBF Zrt. These showed that the storage units are almost empty.
The state-owned storage units at Zsana, Hajdúszoboszló, Pusztaederics and Kardoskút, with total capacity of 4.4 billion cubic metres, are merely over 5% full, which means there are only 220 million cubic metres of gas left in them. At the current daily consumption of 65-70 million cubic metres this would last for three to four days more, the paper said.
Stocks at the Szőreg underground gas storage are also extremely low. According to data by gas storage company Hungarian Földgáztároló Zrt. and MMBF Zrt., there could be slightly more than the minimum legal amount of 1.2 billion cubic metres.The Hungarian government likely stores gas for Russia’s Gazprom, as well. Although the content of the contract signed with the Russian natural gas giant have never been disclosed, the paper said the deal is about storing almost one billion cubic metres for Gazprom.
We have contacted FGSZ to clarify the situation, but until now we have received no answer to any of our questions.
Scherer also said Hungary’s daily gas consumption is over 40 mcm, 20 mcm of which are consumed by households. At the same time, he added, the capacity of the gas system is nearly 200 mcm per day.
Front page photo by MTI/Rosta Tibor
His remarks are in contrast with what local daily newspaper Magyar Nemzet reported on Monday, on the basis of data provided by natural gas storage company Magyar Földgáztároló Zrt. and MMBF Zrt. These showed that the storage units are almost empty.
The state-owned storage units at Zsana, Hajdúszoboszló, Pusztaederics and Kardoskút, with total capacity of 4.4 billion cubic metres, are merely over 5% full, which means there are only 220 million cubic metres of gas left in them. At the current daily consumption of 65-70 million cubic metres this would last for three to four days more, the paper said.
Stocks at the Szőreg underground gas storage are also extremely low. According to data by gas storage company Hungarian Földgáztároló Zrt. and MMBF Zrt., there could be slightly more than the minimum legal amount of 1.2 billion cubic metres.The Hungarian government likely stores gas for Russia’s Gazprom, as well. Although the content of the contract signed with the Russian natural gas giant have never been disclosed, the paper said the deal is about storing almost one billion cubic metres for Gazprom.
We have contacted FGSZ to clarify the situation, but until now we have received no answer to any of our questions.
Scherer also said Hungary’s daily gas consumption is over 40 mcm, 20 mcm of which are consumed by households. At the same time, he added, the capacity of the gas system is nearly 200 mcm per day.
Front page photo by MTI/Rosta Tibor
