Hungary declared a state of emergency due to energy shortages

According to Fars News Agency, the Hungarian government declared a state of emergency on Wednesday (July 13) due to the worsening of the energy crisis. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s assistant said that domestic gas and coal production will increase and the country’s gas reserves will be filled before winter in Europe.

This Hungarian official said that Europe will probably not have enough gas for this autumn and winter, considering the cut off of Russian energy imports to the EU. In response to the lack of supply, he announced the seven-point program that will be implemented from August.

According to the “Rasha Today” network, Hungary will increase domestic gas production from 1.5 to 2 billion cubic meters, and at the same time, it will fill the country’s warehouses with foreign gas. Currently, according to Orban’s aide, Hungary’s reserves are 44% full.

Meanwhile, his government will impose a firewood export ban while increasing domestic coal mining. According to the announcement of the Hungarian government, the “Matra” coal power plant will be restarted as soon as possible after it was partially closed since January 2021.

Hungary relies almost entirely on Russia for its natural gas and has opposed an EU embargo on the vital resource. Orban predicted last month that such a ban would destroy the entire European economy. Hungary has also opposed the gradual reduction of Russian oil imports until the end of this year and has received an exemption to continue buying fuel from Moscow.

According to the Russian network, while other European Union countries such as Germany are suffering from economic destruction after cutting off Russian fossil fuels, Orban’s government has criticized the European Union’s proposals to share its gas equally.

“Peter Zyjarto,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, said last week: “Hungarian gas storage facilities will remain the property of this country, we will use the gas in the Hungarian gas storage facilities that was purchased with Hungarian taxpayers’ money in our own country.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary has already said that it is impossible to find an alternative to Russian energy sources.

According to Rashatudi, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced in its monthly report that the income from Russian oil exports reached 20 billion dollars in June due to the increase in the price of this basic commodity and despite the decrease in its export shipments.

According to the report of the International Energy Agency, the decline in Russian exports last month (June) was due to a decrease in crude oil exports, and daily exports to the European Union fell to less than three million barrels, which is the lowest since November.

Despite Western sanctions pressure on Moscow following the developments in Ukraine, Moscow had previously announced that it expects to earn one trillion rubles (more than $17 billion) in additional oil and gas revenues this year. According to the International Energy Agency, Russia’s oil and gas revenues will account for half of the country’s federal budget in 2021.

end of message/