On his visit to Bucharest, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Péter Szijjártó met with representatives of the Romanian government including the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu and the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Catalin Drula. The parties agreed that once the Black Sea gas exploration starts, the capacity of the pipeline connecting Romania with Hungary would increase from 1.75 billion cubic metres (bcm) to 4.4 bcm, opening the way for Romanian gas to reach European markets via Hungary.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister pointed out that launching gas exploration on the Romanian territories of the Black Sea as soon as possible was a common interest of the two countries. The project is in line with Hungary’s diversification aspirations, as it would mean a potential new source of gas import.
“Specifically, we talked about the Black Sea gas, the BRUA pipeline and the Hungarian perspective on this important project, given that we want to find viable solutions for diversification in order to strengthen energy security,” commented Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu in a Facebook post.
The parties announced that once gas production in the Black Sea starts, the capacity of the gas pipeline connecting Romania with Hungary will more than double from 1.75 bcm to 4.4 bcm.
Romania and Hungary want to join their forces and coordinate their actions on another crucial issue: nuclear energy. As the EU is pushing ahead with the green finance taxonomy, there has been lots of uncertainty regarding the future of the nuclear industry.
“We agreed to intensify the dialogue in order to collaborate on the discussions that will take place at the level of the European Union to meet the objectives of the transition to clean energy, using a technologically neutral diversified energy mix,” added Minister Popescu.
Hungary and Romania urged the swift connection of Bulgaria’s and Greece’s gas pipeline networks to enable both countries’ access to the Southern Gas Corridor bringing gas from the Caucasus and later from central Asia.
