Hungary highly dependent on Russian oil and gas, Gulyás says

Energy Trade

Until alternatives are developed, Hungary is highly dependent on Russian oil and gas, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, said in an interview with public television.

The problem is that over the last thirty years Europe has not been able to meet the demand that energy should be sourced from elsewhere as well, he said. 

Russian oil cannot be replaced by anything else, despite the fact that Hungary has done everything possible in recent years to find an alternative, Gulyás said.

Diversification of energy sources and the expansion of choice for resource acquisitions has been an ongoing goal in Hungary since the end of communism, he added.

The minister noted that when the governing Fidesz-KDNP alliance came to power in 2010 Hungary could only import gas from Austria and Ukraine, but by now there are gas interconnectors towards six out of the seven neighboring countries. 

If the Greek-Bulgarian interconnector is finally completed, currently scheduled for the end of next year, gas imports from Azerbaijan will also be possible, Gulyás said.

Gulyás said more and more people are calling for the extension of sanctions to Russian gas imports, but he believes common sense will prevail as it is a strong counterargument that the German economy could get into big trouble without Russian gas.

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