The extraction of natural gas can soon begin in Hungary
At the beginning of next year, the extraction of natural gas will begin in Nyékpustán in Békés county, after the government accelerated the necessary procedures. According to the Industry Ministry, efforts are being made to alleviate the effects of the energy crisis caused by the protracted war and the failed Brussels sanctions by significantly increasing domestic natural gas production. According to the plans, the amount of domestically extracted gas can thus increase to over 2 billion cubic meters per year. Meanwhile, since Friday, the extra gas that Hungary bought above the previously contracted quantities has been arriving from Russia, M1 News reported.
At the beginning of next year, gas extraction will begin in Nyékpuszta
“We are increasing domestic gas production” – said Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, who has been in office for a month. With the move, the government is trying to alleviate the effects of the energy crisis caused by the war and the failed Brussels sanctions. According to preliminary calculations, the amount of natural gas produced in Békés County can be used to increase the amount of gas produced in Hungary.
Hungary has a huge amount of gas, according to estimates, the country is sitting on a reserve of 1,600 billion cubic meters,
but their extraction has not started so far because it would have been very expensive. But today the situation has changed.
“The country’s need is around 9 billion cubic meters, it is between 8 and 10, this one and a half billion can be increased to at least 2 billion cubic meters, the Hungarian production of energy, the fact that the complicated and expensive technologies, of which, for example, shale gas from Makó can be brought up, have not yet been worth . gas would have cost five times as much. But with the current gas price, it is already worth it, and these can be explored and utilized” Gergely Gulyás explained.
According to the expert, since gas prices are getting more and more expensive as the heating season approaches, – according to some forecasts, they can even increase by one and a half times – therefore increasing domestic gas production can have many advantages.
“On the one hand, it helps us to have a protective shield against skyrocketing world market prices. At the same time, it helps to maintain the achievements of the overhead reduction. And thirdly, which will perhaps be even more important in winter, in maintaining energy security, i.e. in guaranteeing that gas is available to Hungarian families” – said Géza Sebestény, head of the MCC economic policy workshop.
Security is also increased by the 700 million cubic meters of gas that the government requested from Gazprom in addition to the originally contracted amount. The Russian gas giant has already started the delivery – State Secretary Tamás Menczer is not on his social media page. He said: in the first phase, until the end of August, 2.6 million cubic meters of extra volume will arrive from the south via the Turkish Stream pipeline, and negotiations are already underway for the September schedule.
The cover photo is an illustration.