Hungary will replace the contract to expire in 2021 with a new gas supply agreement with Gazprom. The Russian gas industry giant will store 900 million cubic metres of gas in Hungarian storage facilities for the winter months this year, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told the Hungarian news agency MTI on Wednesday in Moscow.
“It also appears to be evident that the implementation of the southern gas corridor is going to plan; the negotiations between Gazprom and Bulgaria as well as between Gazprom and Serbia ensure that if we ourselves adhere to the schedule that was laid down originally, 6 billion cubic metres of gas will appear at the southern border of Hungary by the end of 2019”, the Minister said.
The Bulgarians, the Serbs and we ourselves, too, will carry out the necessary infrastructure projects, he added.
Mr Szijjártó pointed out that this, along with the Paks enlargement project, is a major step forward from the respect of the safety of Hungary’s energy supply.
During the course of his two-day visit paid by the Hungarian Minister to the Russian capital, he met with Alexey Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, Minister of Energy Alexander Novak, Alexey Likachev, Director General of Rosatom, and Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov.
“The Paks enlargement is not just about the construction of an energy infrastructure facility, but it is a comprehensive economic development plan”, Mr Szijjártó said at one of the roundtable discussions of the international forum of the Russian Energy Week held in Moscow which he attended together with Mr Likachev, William D. Magwood, Director-General of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD NEA), and Henri Proglio, former Chairman of the Board and CEO of the French energy supplier giant EDF.
The Minister reiterated that the Paks project had been granted all the necessary permits by the European Commission, and the construction of the „visible part” of the project will begin in January.
Mr Szijjártó repeatedly described the Paks enlargement as the best deal of the century for Hungary, pointing out that the project is being implemented within the framework of a highly advantageous financial arrangement, in cooperation with the best representative of the atomic energy industry. According to his account, the construction project itself will create 12 thousand jobs, and the number of workers involved in the project, including service providers and suppliers, may reach 40 thousand. The Minister highlighted that Hungarian businesses will be responsible for the implementation of 40 per cent of the project which will generate additional sales revenues worth EUR 5 million for them.
According to the Minister, the enlarged power station which will also prompt the modernisation of the infrastructure in its vicinity will boost the Hungarian economy, and will contribute to its annual 3 to 4 per cent growth.
Mr Szijjártó said that the Hungarian Government does not accept discrimination against nuclear energy which he described as “the cheapest, safest and cleanest” source of energy. As he pointed out, increasing the share of this segment in the domestic energy mix from the current 43 per cent to 70 per cent will reduce the Hungarian economy’s energy costs, will enhance national sovereignty, and will also bring about progress in the field of the application of the latest advanced technologies.
(MTI)
