Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said that Slovenia plans to build a pipeline that would transport Algerian gas to Hungary, thus helping its neighbor to kick its dependence on Russian fossil fuels.
Last month, Slovenia signed a contract with Algerian Sonatrach to import gas through existing pipelines via Italy. The deal, which envisages delivery of 300 million cubic meters per year, will enable the country to reduce Russian gas imports by a third, while the revived link will help it transport flows to Hungary through the proposed new gas interconnection.
PM Golob said that Hungary is totally dependent on Russian gas but it’s not the only one in the region, since Austria is in a similar position. He stressed that the neighbors must help these countries to solve their gas supply issues.
EU countries are racing to wean themselves off Russian gas by 2030, following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Hungary has built connections to import gas from all of its neighbors except Slovenia, but 85 % of its gas still comes from Russia. Its main source is the TurkStream pipeline delivering gas from Russian state-owned giant Gazprom via Turkey and the Balkans.
Hungary has secured an exemption from EU plans to impose a cap on imported gas, and also procured additional Russian supplies.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that he is interested in diversifying Hungary’s gas sources, identifying three possible routes: the potential Slovenian pipeline for Algeria gas, a route to ship Black Sea gas from fields discovered in Romanian waters and an expansion of its Croatian links to import LNG from the Krk terminal.
