Hungary's Winter Gas Supply Secured

Hungary's winter natural gas supply is secured, the more than five billion cubic meters of natural gas stored in gas storage facilities until 30 September will safely cover domestic demand, the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (HEA) told the state news agency MTI on Wednesday.

The Authority said that every year, they check the availability of gas sources necessary to supply residential users, the winter readiness of power plants, the availability of the necessary fuel stocks, and determine the amount of natural gas to be injected, taking into account the highest winter period consumption in the last 120 months in the given service provider's territory.

During the heating season, the role of underground gas storage is particularly important, since 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 in storage, which represents a level of over 83%. This figure includes stocks in commercial and emergency storage (1.45 bcm).
According to the information, the security stocks, which are in addition to the commercial stocks, are available to ensure a continuous supply of gas to the population in extreme circumstances, in particular in the event of a gas supply crisis.

The withdrawal started on October 1. The country's winter natural gas supply is ensured by a combination of storage stocks, continuous natural gas imports and domestic production, HEA said.