The European Union (EU) is not providing enough support to help smaller, landlocked countries wean themselves off Russian natural gas, Hungary's top energy security official Csaba Marosvari was quoted by Euractiv as saying.
Mr. Marosvari said at the Gastech conference in Houston (USA) on September 18 (local time) that smaller, landlocked countries, including Hungary, need more money to cut their dependence on Russian gas.
About two-thirds of Hungary's gas imports come from Russia, but pressure is growing on the country and some of its neighbours to diversify further away from Russian energy.
“In our region there are small countries, small markets, few important players in the market, lack of capital, infrastructure and de-bottlenecking projects that can cost hundreds of millions of euros – in terms of the fuel market it is not feasible to implement,” said Mr Marosvari.
The European Committee's move to fund green energy projects to end dependence on fossil fuels has left some countries opting out, according to Mr Marosvari.
“As a result of the Ukraine conflict, we are under increasing pressure to diversify away from Russian fuel more quickly, but they refuse to provide the money to be able to do that,” he added.
Hungary receives 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia under a 15-year deal with Russian oil giant Gazprom signed in 2021.
After the Ukraine conflict, unlike other EU countries, Hungary quickly gave in to Russia's demand to pay for gas in rubles.
Data from the EU Committee shows that since Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine, the EU has sharply reduced its gas imports from Russia from more than 50% to 15% last year. However, Hungary has not reduced its gas imports from Russia.
In addition to direct pipeline supplies through Ukraine, Hungary also receives Russian gas via TurkStream, a gas pipeline running under the Black Sea to the European territory of Türkiye and from there to Bulgaria and Serbia.
Bulgaria does not receive any gas from TurkStream but under a contract it continues to ensure gas transit to Serbia, Hungary and Austria.
Hungary has signed several short-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) contracts with Azerbaijan and Türkiye to help reduce its dependence on Russian supplies, Marosvari said, adding that the country expects Turkey and Greece to become more important suppliers of pipeline gas and LNG in the future.
“You can’t put all your eggs in one basket, and that’s true for natural gas supplies as well,” said Mr. Marosvari.
"Russia is supplying under contract, for us they are reliable but this does not mean we have to stick to a single source, so we have implemented a strategy of diversifying our supply sources," said Mr. Marosvari.
