Budapest is interested in the development of cooperation with Moscow in the sphere of hydrocarbons and in finding alternative ways of their supplies to the country, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday ahead of a working visit to Hungary by Russian Foreign Minister SergeyLavrov due on May 25.
"Despite the rolling back of the South Stream gas pipeline project, Budapest is still interested in further development of pragmatic cooperation with Russia in the area of the use of Russian hydrocarbons and in looking for alternative ways of their supplies to Hungary," the ministry said.
The ministry stressed that energy cooperation is a priority area in trade-and-economic relations between the two countries. According to the Russian foreign ministry, Russia accounts for about three fourths of Hungary’s oil consumption and two thirds of its natural gas consumption.
"Hungary’s MOL oil and gas company has won a firm stronghold in Russia, where it participates in oil production in the Tomsk, Orenburg and Samara regions," the ministry said.
(ITAR-TASS)
