Hungary faces difficulty in moving away from Russian gas due to LNG market crisis — expert

Résumé détaillé

"At present, not only Hungary but other EU nations as well are facing a shortage of LNG imports, as supply is severely constrained by the absence of major volumes of Qatari gas from the market," Alexey Belogoryev stated

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. The crisis in the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market has effectively left Hungary with no viable way to replace Russian gas supplies with alternative sources, Alexey Belogoryev, Research Director at the Institute for Energy and Finance, told TASS.

"At present, not only Hungary but other EU nations as well are facing a shortage of LNG imports, as supply is severely constrained by the absence of major volumes of Qatari gas from the market," Belogoryev stated. "If the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz concludes by 2027 - as many hope it will - then such opportunities may open up for Hungary. Right now, however, due to the state of the global LNG market, that window of opportunity is effectively closed."

The expert noted that phasing out Russian gas is theoretically possible, provided the Hungarian government sets such a goal for itself and its gas companies. "It is physically feasible, but with one crucial condition: the current crisis in the global LNG market must come to an end," he explained.

According to Belogoryev, abandoning Russian gas would force Hungary to seek new suppliers, requiring fuel to be delivered via different routes. This would complicate imports and introduce additional risks to the country’s gas supply. "There is currently a significant supply shortage in this market, driven by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. All of this creates risks for gas security. Reorganizing supply chains would take longer than the time remaining until October 2027," the expert concluded.

Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated on the ATV television channel that the government would continue to seek alternative gas sources in order to purchase fuel at the most favorable prices. According to him, Russian gas is not cheap, as its cost is linked to prices on the European TTF gas hub.

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