BUDAPEST--Hungary will resume natural gas shipments to Ukraine
on Jan. 1, Hungary's transmission company FGSZ Zrt. said on
Monday.
Hungary said in late September that it had stopped the
deliveries since it had expected an increase in inward flows. The
transmission pipeline only operates in one direction at a time.
"The reason for the resumption of the shipments is that system
users have notified us that no increased demand for inward supplies
can be expected at the Beregdaroc hub. As a result, we will be able
to reset the switch at the Beregdaroc hub," FGSZ said on its
website.
Beregdaroc is a Hungarian village close to the border with
Ukraine.
Hungary will ensure shipments from Jan. 1 but those may be
suspended again "depending on technical and commercial conditions,"
FGSZ said.
The gas-transmission company said in September that Hungary had
been providing 6.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas shipment
capacity a year from Russia to Ukraine since March 2013. That
capacity entails a daily maximum of 16.8 million cubic meters.
European Union countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, and
Poland, have been pumping some of the gas they receive from Russia
back to Ukraine in recent months after Russia's OAO Gazprom
(GAZP.RS) halted gas flows to Ukraine in June amid continuing
political and military tension.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com; Twitter:
@margitfeher
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