Hungary can tap new infrastructure to buy LNG from Qatar from Jan 2021 – UPDATE

Following completion of Croatia’s construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas terminal in January 2021, Hungary will be able to purchase LNG from Qatar, Péter Szijjártó, the minister for foreign affairs and trade, said on Tuesday.

Szijjártó told MTI that the Qatar deal would radically change the security of central Europe’s gas supply.

Most countries in the region currently get gas from a single source, he said, adding that Qatar had become the top global exporter of LNG, with more than 100 billion cubic meters of gas exported each year.

Plans are to boost this to 145 billion cubic metres over the next few years.

He said Qatar has expressed openness to entering into talks on delivering LNG to Hungary via Croatia. (Croatia LNG terminal in Hungary’s interest)

Gas from Qatar may well be part of Hungary’s energy mix from January 2021, he said.

“The more we can obtain gas from a diverse range of sources, the greater our energy security and the cheaper the gas is,” Szijjártó said.

The LNG terminal in Croatia will have an annual capacity of 2.7 billion cubic metres of gas, while that of the interconnector at the Croatia-Hungaria border will be 1.6 billion cubic metres, Szijjártó said, adding that this was a significant amount in light of Hungary’s annual consumption of 9.5 billion cubic metres.