Péter Szijjártó, Hungary's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, announced in Budapest on Wednesday that Hungary and Türkiye had reached an agreement on the construction of a new natural gas power plant, as well as oil and natural gas exploration and production at two sites in Hungary.
According to the statement sent by the Ministry to the Hungarian news agency MTI (Magyar Távirati Iroda), Minister Szijjártó, in a joint press conference with Türkiye's Minister of Energy Alparslan Bayraktar, stated that another significant milestone had been reached in the strategic cooperation between the two countries and that by reaching an agreement on the Turkish investment, Hungary could witness another success story that would significantly contribute to its energy sector.
Minister Szijjártó emphasised that substantial investments are currently being made in Eastern Hungary, which will soon lead to the commencement of operation of large factories. The Minister emphasised the importance of ensuring energy supply security, which led to the recent agreement to build a natural gas power plant in Tiszaújváros in collaboration with Türkiye and Italy.
Furthermore, a concession agreement was signed for the exploration and production of two new oil and gas fields in Hungary's Tamási and Buzsák regions, with MOL and TPAO forming a partnership for this purpose.
Minister Szijjártó said, "TPAO is investing approximately 6 billion forints, and thanks to this investment and the cooperation between MOL-TPAO, we will be able to meet a large part of Hungary's crude oil needs through domestic production in the future."
The Hungarian minister also reminded that the cooperation between MOL and TPAO is not the first of its kind, as both companies have been jointly operating natural gas fields in Russia for 10 years and have a long-term cooperation in Azerbaijan.
Minister Szijjártó stated that today's agreement marks the beginning of the development of joint oil extraction plans not only in Hungary but also in third-world countries, thereby strengthening MOL's regional position.
The Minister emphasised that energy supplies face serious security challenges in these dangerous times, citing the closure of several transit routes, the imposition of energy sanctions, the attack on energy infrastructure, and the power outage of two Western European countries in recent days.
"All these unfortunate and challenging circumstances further increase the value of the cooperation between Hungary and Türkiye in the energy supply sector. We have had great success in recent years, and today a new success story begins," he said.
Minister Szijjártó went on to say that ensuring Hungary's energy supply security is not possible without Türkiye, noting that more than 20 million cubic metres of natural gas are received daily via the TurkStream pipeline, with this year's total exceeding last year's record-breaking amount, reaching nearly 2.5 billion cubic metres.
The Hungarian minister said, "Had we not built the TurkStream pipeline together back then, we would have been in serious trouble due to the interruption of transfers from Ukraine. But our natural gas supply continues uninterrupted thanks to our courageous decisions in the past. Moreover, we are also able to keep spending rates stable."