Hungary and Romania sign agreement to safeguard security of gas supply

Minister Szijjártó said the agreement will contribute to Hungary’s energy security and maintaining the system of regulated utilities prices for households.

Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Romanian Minister of Energy Sebastian Ioan Burduja signed an intergovernmental agreement on solidarity measures to safeguard the security of gas supply in Budapest on Monday.

Minister Szijjártó said the agreement will contribute to Hungary’s energy security and maintaining the system of regulated utilities prices for households. With the agreement, the dominance of Hungary’s gas deliveries from the south has increased, he added.

Minister Szijjártó pointed to Romania’s large energy production and storage capacity as well as its access to alternative gas supply routes. He said that the interconnector between the gas networks of Hungary and Romania had an annual capacity of 2.6bn cubic metres. Last year, 1.8bn cubic metres of gas was delivered through the interconnector, he added.

Minister Szijjártó said talks were underway on purchasing gas from an offshore project in Romania that was set to make the country a net gas exporter. The Black Sea gas field project will serve the diversification of energy supply in the region, he added.