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Hungary could buy LNG from Qatar from 2021
Qatar
HUNGARY could start taking deliveries of liq- uefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar from 2021, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto told the state news agency on October 22. Hungary’s top diplomat met QatarGas CEO Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani and Qatari ministers during a trip to Qatar.
The Qataris expressed their clear-cut open- ness to start negotiations with Hungary on LNG deliveries via Croatia and Qatari gas could appear in Hungary’s energy mix as soon as 2021, improving the security of the country’s energy supply and contributing to more favourable prices, he said.
The LNG terminal Croatia is building off the coast of Krk would be completed in January 2021, providing the infrastructure necessary for Hungary to take deliveries of Qatari gas. Qatar exports more than 100bcm of gas a year at pres- ent and wants to raise that volume to an annual 145bcm, he added.
The government is in talks on the acquisition of a stake in the terminal. Hungary made an offer to buy a 25% stake to further diversify its energy supply but only if the country can acquire gas
from the terminal at a competitive price. Washington has pushed Hungary and coun- tries in the region to buy American LNG via the Krk terminal as it is worried about Russia’s influ- ence in the region. The US administration says Russia uses gas pipelines to solidify its control over the security and the stability of Central and
Eastern Europe.
The Croatian LNG terminal will have an
annual capacity of 2.7bcm, while interconnec- tor capacity at the Croatian-Hungarian border stands at 1.6bcm a year. Gas consumption in Hungary is about 9.5bcm a year.
Szijjarto said an agreement had been reached on the text of a bilateral investment protec- tion agreement with Qatar that could soon be signed, paving the way for joint investments and improved trade. Hungarian audiovisual technol- ogy has been installed at a number of stadiums in Qatar which will host football matches of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Supplying drinking water is a challenge in Qatar, something which presents an opportunity for Hungarian water management companies, he added.
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 43 29•October•2019
