The price for Hungary in February was almost three times higher than in Romania and the Czech Republic, and a quarter higher than the EU average, according to a G7 article.Continue reading
Gazprom will stop gas supplies on the TurkStream pipeline for a week as of June 21st. Since September of last year, Hungary has been receiving a significant part of Russian gas imports from this route after the two countries agreed to use it to replace most of the former Ukrainian transit, G7 reports.
According to G7, TurkStream is one of the most important transport routes for Russian gas to Europe. The pipeline has a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters per year, half of which goes to Turkey and the other half to the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, more than a third of all gas entering Hungary has come from Serbia, crossing the Serbian-Hungarian border at Kiskundorozsma. This is the amount that will now be lost for a week with the maintenance of the TurkStream.
Hungary has only imported similar quantities from Austria in recent months, but this does not mean that it is not technically possible to replace imports from the south. In principle, imports from Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, and Croatia could easily replace it, provided there is demand and enough gas is available on the market. Perhaps the best chance is that transit via Ukraine will pick up. Imports from that direction completely stopped in the days following the outbreak of the war, but recently some gas has been flowing again at Beregdaróc.
Beyond Hungary, the new import restrictions will hit the entire European market. The loss of this is significant in itself, but Gazprom’s announcement comes just days after Russian gas supplies to Europe plummeted on the even more heavily trafficked Nord Stream.
Source: G7
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