Hungary turns to Russia’s Gazprom for increased gas supplies: foreign minister

Hungary will continue talks with Russia on additional gas supplies and expects to reach a deal with Gazprom to boost supplies further from next month, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.

Szijjarto met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last month, seeking 700 million cubic metres of gas on top of an existing long-term supply deal with Russia.

Gazprom started to increase gas supplies to Hungary this month, adding to previously agreed deliveries via the Turkstream pipeline.

“Like it or not, we will continue talks with the Russians about increasing gas shipments to Hungary,” Szijjarto told a business meeting.

“There is an offer to increase gas shipments, we will fine tune that with Gazprom in the next few days, and we will sign an agreement under which we could get increased daily shipments.”

2:34 Russia says Gazprom supplying as much gas ‘as possible’ to Europe as German city trims energy use

Szijjarto did not give any details about volumes or prices.

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Hungary’s reserves stored 3.25 billion cubic metres of gas as of Aug. 1, more than 51 per cent of total storage capacity, based on data from the national energy regulator.

Under a deal signed last year, before the start of the war in neighbouring Ukraine, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year via Bulgaria and Serbia under its long-term deal with Russia and a further 1 bcm via a pipeline from Austria. The agreement with Gazprom is for 15 years.

Russia is likely to ramp up gas flaring in the coming months as the country’s gas storages fill up, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told a conference in Norway on Monday.

He said trust in Russia as an energy supplier had been eroded around the world following the invasion of Ukraine and cutbacks of gas exports, and that the loss of Europe as a partner would hurt Moscow.

“Russia is not winning the energy battle here,” Birol said.

The upcoming winter season will be a test of Europe’s solidarity, and if the continent fails when tested, the impact may be felt “beyond this energy crisis,” Birol said.