(Bloomberg) -- Hungary is seeking a solution that would allow gas flows to Europe via Ukraine to continue once the current transit contract between Moscow and Kyiv expires, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
“We have not given up on our Ukraine transit plans,” Orban said at a press conference in Budapest on Saturday. Further talks are still planned with both Russia and Ukraine to let the transit extend beyond 2024, he said.
Ukraine is a key route for Russian pipeline-gas exports, still shipping about 15 billion cubic meters a year to a number of European nations, despite the war that began almost three years ago. The transit contract between Moscow and Kyiv expires at the end of December, and this week leaders of both nations ruled out extending the agreement.
Still, Gazprom PJSC’s remaining clients in central Europe — including Hungary and Slovakia, as well as major industrial end-buyers in Austria and Italy — are in favor of a solution that would avoid an interruption of supplies this winter.
Various alternatives have been floated, including a swap in supplies involving a third party, such as Azerbaijan. At the press conference in Budapest, Orban confirmed that switching the point of gas sales to the border between Russia and Ukraine is also under consideration.
Still, even if gas flows through Ukraine stop from next year, Hungary will remain well-supplied this winter via the Balkans, Orban said. Hungary has received guarantees that Bulgaria, a transit country for those volumes, will not hinder the flows, he said.
The Balkan route includes Russian deliveries via the TurkStream link.
--With assistance from Daniel Hornak.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.