Hungary is interested in the possibility of importing gas from offshore production from the Black Sea once the extraction within the Neptun Deep project starts, said the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, in Bucharest, at a specialized conference.

"We are interested in increasing gas imports from Romania. We were interested in the long term, so we already had a contract with OMV under which they should have delivered gas to us from the beginning of this year, but since they delayed the final investment decision for a very long time, we still have no Romanian gas in our national energy mix. We're going to look at the Neptun Deep project as a big chance for us to diversify our energy sources, so we want to take advantage of as much gas as we can import from this source" - Péter Szijjártó

The Romanian Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, says that within the Neptun Deep project, a large amount of gas will be extracted and Romania will be able to export after securing the domestic needs.

"Romania has the priority to purchase this gas, this is a closed discussion. We will always cover all domestic needs and we will strive to invest in the fertilizer industry and the pharma industry by 2027 and capitalize on this gas, not just export it, but I feel that at a quantity of 10 billion cubic meters, so it is practically twice what Romania consumes today, probably there would also be a quantity available for exports. I think we don't mind being able to export if we don't have a place to store it, to make it available to other European states, which will thus reduce their dependence on Russia" - Sebastian Burduja

The two ministers emphasized that Romania and Hungary will have a common position before the European Commission on the need for long-term acceptance of both gas and nuclear energy as part of the energy mix.

Translated by: Radu Matei

SOURCE: Radio România Actualități