“Hungarian oils and gas company MOL has been awarded new hydrocarbon exploration and extraction licences in Norway, meaning it now has permits with relation to 20 hydrocarbon fields, as a result of which it could significantly reinforce the position of Europe’s hydrocarbon market”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI on Tuesday following negotiations in Tromsø, Norway.
“MOL will be spending 500 million dollars on exploration in Norway over the next five years. The new exploration licences off the coast of Norway conceal over 750 million barrels of geological wealth, and the latest Norwegian licences mean the MOL Group’s global exploration portfolio has doubled”, the Minister added.
“As one of Europe’s largest exporters of natural gas (some one third of Europe’s gas consumption comes from the Scandinavian country), Norway could also play an important role in assuring Hungary’s gas supply in future”, he said.
“Good cooperation was already established with Statoil in 2016, and we would like to be able to count on Norwegian gas in future as one of the new sources of the diversification of Hungary’s gas supply. This requires Central European infrastructure to be callable of accepting and using liquid natural gas (LNG)”, he said. Mr. Szijjártó confirmed that Hungary could count on Norway as another source of natural gas if the Polish LNG terminals are expanded or the Croatian LNG terminal at Krk is finally operational. “Our Norwegian negotiating partners were fully open to this”, he declared.
“Norway is one of the world’s most highly developed and richest countries thanks to its unique natural wealth, and accordingly the fact that energy is now being placed at the focus of cooperation between the two countries is extremely advantageous to Hungary”, he noted.
During his visit to Tromsø, the Minister met with his Norwegian counterpart, Foreign Minister Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide. The parties agreed that the two countries will be mutually supporting each other’s endeavours within the United nations, and accordingly Hungary will be supporting Norway’s bid for membership of the Security Council for the 2021-22 session.
At the invitation of the Norwegian Foreign Minister and the Minister for Oil and Energy, Mr. Szijjártó held a lecture at this year’s international conference on the sustainable development of the Arctic region.
“What happens in the Arctic region not only affects the Arctic, but the whole world, and primarily Europe. Although a new trade route could open up if the Arctic Sea route become fully navigable, global warming and the melting of the Arctic ice cap and the resulting rise in sea levels is affecting the whole world”, he said.
Hungary has committed itself to both increasing competitiveness and protecting the environment in a balanced manner. “We are developing Hungary’s economy to enable the continuous improvement of its competitiveness, but responsibility for the future is also part of our economic strategy. This was clearly indicated by our performance during the drawing up of the Paris climate agreement, and by the fact that Hungary was the first country to ratify the Kyoto Protocol”, Mr. Szijjártó highlighted.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
