Hungary and Turkey begin talks on expanding gas supplies

The Hungarian company MVM has started commercial negotiations with its partners from Turkey to expand gas supplies by means of Azerbaijani gas, as well as liquefied natural gas (LNG) delivered to Turkish seaports, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto announced on Monday.

He was speaking at a press conference after a meeting in Budapest with the Minister of Industry and Technology of Turkey, Mustafa Varank. They held a meeting of the bilateral commission on economic cooperation.

Reaffirming the intention of the Hungarian government to seek diversification of energy sources, Szijjarto noted that "the most realistic options for this are Azerbaijani gas and LNG coming to Turkish ports."

The minister specified that MVM and its Turkish partners have started commercial negotiations "on the volume and timing of deliveries to the Hungarian market." He also stressed that the expansion of Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe will require large investments in pipeline infrastructure and Hungary counts on financial assistance from the European Union in the implementation of such projects.

Now, according to Szijjarto, the only reliable source of gas for Hungary is the TurkStream pipeline, which runs east-west at 100% of its capacity. Through its branch through Bulgaria and Romania, the country received 4.8 billion cubic meters of Russian gas last year, which provided about half of its needs, the Foreign Minister said.