Hungary to receive Azeri gas already this year - minister
Szijjártó told a joint press conference with Azerbaijan's Minister of Labour Sahil Babayev that Azerbaijani gas supplies to Hungary could start this year and "according to current expectations, we can count on 100 million cubic metres of Azerbaijani natural gas [...] by the end of the year".
He added the two countries have a political agreement to continue their cooperation after this year under a long-term contract, which will involve the delivery of 1-2 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually.
The minister said that infrastructure improvements are still needed, as gas from Azerbaijan will come via Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. He added that EU funds would be used for the works, so it would be good if the EU could help, and not just urge decoupling from Russian energy. He noted that the fact that Mol also has a stake in the energy sector in Azerbaijan is a good basis for Hungarian-Azeri energy cooperation, as the partially owned Azeri oil field accounts for around 15% of Mol's production. Analysis of Mol's flash report published this morning:
Hungary set to receive 100 mcm of gas this year and agreeing on an annual supply of one or two bcm of gas later on are new information. Szijjártó has only said the other day that the Hungarian government is in advanced negotiations with Azerbaijan on a long-term gas purchase contract after the visit of the Azeri President to Budapest at the end of January.
Hungary's annual gas consumption in 2021 was 11.1 billion cubic metres, which dropped to around 9.2 bcm last year due to high gas prices and mild winter weather. Under the 15-year Russian-Hungarian gas purchase contract signed in autumn 2021, the Russians would deliver 4.5 bcm per year (1 bcm on Nord Stream 1, which has been shut down since last September, and 3.5 bcm on the Turkish Stream, which is at serious risk of being shut down due to Western sanctions), so
THE 1 TO 2 BILLION CUBIC METRES PER YEAR OF AZERI GAS NOW BEING OUTLINED IS CONSIDERABLE COMPARED both TO THE RUSSIAN CONTRACT AND to Hungary's ANNUAL GAS CONSUMPTION.
The government wants to increase Hungarian gas production to 2 billion cubic metres a year from the current 1.5 billion, and to this end the first new gas well has recently started production. The second well is expected to follow suit this summer, and according to information released yesterday, another 50 wells will be drilled, but there could be more if everything goes well. In addition to the above sources of natural gas, Hungary also has a contract for 1 billion cubic metres of LNG per year from the Croatian LNG terminal in the island of Krk. The rest of the gas is sourced from different directions by the country or by traders.
Azerbaijan will become an increasingly important source of gas for the EU, especially for the southern region, as EU member states plan to increase the bloc's annual gas imports from 8 billion cubic metres to around 16-20 billion cubic metres in the coming years. Hungary's own imports would be a slice of that.
Cover photo: Péter Szijjártó's Facebook page
