The more than 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas stored in the country’s gas storage facilities as of 30 September will safely cover the domestic needs for the winter, the Hungarian Energy and Utilities Authority (MEKH) said in a statement sent to daily Magyar Hírlap.
Every year, MEKH checks the availability of gas resources necessary for the supply of residential users, the winter readiness of power plants, and the availability of necessary fuel stocks, and determines the highest winter consumption in the last hundred and twenty months, thereby calculating the amount of natural gas to be stored.
During the warm season, the role of underground gas storage facilities is particularly decisive – on a cold winter day, up to half of the country’s natural gas consumption can come from this source.
This year’s storage period ended on September 30, with 5.28 billion cubic meters of gas reserves representing a filling level of more than 83 percent. This volume also includes stocks of commercial storage and security storage (1.45 billion cubic meters).
The safety stock available in addition to the commercial stock serves as a continuous supply for the population in extreme circumstances, especially in the event of a natural gas supply crisis.
Gas withdrawal began on October 1st. The country’s winter natural gas supply is provided by storage reserves, continuous natural gas imports and domestic production.
In addition, as we reported earlier, Hungary last month signed a 15-year gas supply deal with Russia, which does not depend on fickle Ukrainian transfers.
