Hungary, one of the EU member states most dependent on energy from Russia, aims to stop importing Russian gas by 2050 after large-scale electrification, Hungarian Innovation and Technology Minister László Palkovic said on Tuesday, as quoted by Reuters and Agerpres.
Under an agreement signed last year, before the war in Ukraine, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year through Bulgaria and Serbia, according to a long-term agreement signed with Russia, to which an additional billion cubic meters was added via a pipeline from Austria.
The agreement signed by Hungary with the Russian group “Gazprom” is designed for 15 years.
In July, the government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ended a year-long scheme to cap utility prices paid by households with high energy consumption. Laszlo Palkovich estimated that lifting the restriction will contribute to the reduction of gas consumption in the retail segment.
How Hungary wants to reduce its dependence on Russian gas
He announced that the executive will review Hungary’s energy strategy in the first quarter of 2023, aiming to reduce dependence on gas and increase solar and nuclear power generation, as well as advance in the wind power segment.
“The level of gas in Russia, if all conditions are met, could drop to zero by 2050,” Palkovich said at the energy conference.
He explained that households, which used four billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas last year, are likely to cut consumption by at least 800 million cubic meters after the subsidy cut, with higher savings coming after the government’s curb measures. consumption.
As a first step, Hungary wants to reduce the share of gas in total energy consumption to 26% by 2030 from 35% in 2021, which is about 2.4 billion cubic meters, Palkovic said.
His remarks came a day after Gazprom agreed to delay payments to Hungary for natural gas supplies this winter.
In recent months, the government of Budapest has stated several times that it does not support new energy sanctions against Russia, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also supports the cancellation of already adopted ones.
Source: Hot News RU
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