BUDAPEST (awp/afp) – Hungary, a member of the European Union, announced on Saturday that Russia has started to deliver more natural gas to it than planned in their previous trade agreements, after a visit by its foreign minister to Moscow in July.
The Hungarian Foreign Ministry explained that trade negotiations with Moscow “have made it possible to reach an agreement”, with the result that the Russian company Gazprom began delivering Friday “volumes higher than those mentioned in the contract”.
“It is the duty of the Hungarian government to ensure a secure gas supply for the country, and we are up to it,” senior ministry official Tamas Menczer wrote on Facebook.
Until the end of August, an additional daily volume of 2.6 million cubic meters per day will arrive from the south via the Turkstream gas pipeline, he said, adding that negotiations were underway regarding September deliveries.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto made an impromptu trip to Moscow in July to discuss the purchase of an additional 700 million cubic meters of gas, in addition to the 4.5 billion delivered each year to Budapest before the conflict in Ukraine.
“In light of what we know about the current state of the European market, it is clear that acquiring such a large volume is impossible without Russian sources,” said Mr. Menczer, mentioning Mr. .Szijjarto.
The EU began rolling out a plan this week to cut its gas consumption by 15% to cope with soaring energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Some countries of the European bloc are nevertheless reluctant to strictly follow the plan, which in any case speaks of “voluntary demand reduction”.
Hungary, which depends on gas transported directly from Russia, has asked for a derogation regime.
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