Slovenia and Hungary are considering building a natural gas pipeline connecting the two countries as a means of reducing Hungary’s reliance on natural gas from Russia.
The announcement came as Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob and his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban launched a new high-voltage power line that marks the first connection between both countries’ power grids on 2 December.
“Such a connection would allow Hungary to free itself of reliance on Russian gas in the medium term and find an independent source that would traverse Italy,” Golob said.
“If we go down this route, I see this as an expression of solidarity between the two countries,” he added.
Orban said Hungary was considering three options to reduce its reliance on Russia and get its gas through Romania, Croatia or Slovenia.
“If we complete one of the projects, this does not mean we are not interested in other options,” he said.
Slovenia’s network of natural gas pipelines currently ends near the eastern village of Pince, located on the border with Hungary.
Golob is confident that the connection could be “very close to completion” or even completed before the end of his term, which is three and a half years away.
While still strongly reliant on Russian gas, Slovenia has recently signed a three-year agreement with the Algerian state-owned energy company Sonatrach.
Under the deal, Slovenia will receive 300 million cubic metres of natural gas a year from 1 January 2023 that will be shipped via pipelines in Tunisia and Italy – satisfying roughly a third of the country’s total needs.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
