Turkey’s state-owned natural gas and LNG firm, Botas, has signed a natural gas supply deal with Hungarian energy company MVM.
MVM agreed to buy 275 million cubic meters of natural gas from Botas as part of Hungary’s plans to boost energy independence, it said in a statement.
Botas said in a separate statement that it will start natural gas deliveries to the Hungarian firm in 2024.
“The parties also agreed on the development of cooperation on the use of our country’s strong LNG infrastructure and the natural gas storage facilities,” it said.
With this agreement, Botas will also make a “significant contribution” to the energy supply security of Europe, it said.
Botas added that this is the first time that it will export gas through pipelines to a European country that does not share a border with Turkey.
Earlier this year, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz received its first LNG cargo as part of a deal it signed with Botas.
US LNG exporter Cheniere delivered the first cargo under the Botas deal to the latter’s Marmara Ereglisi onshore terminal in Turkey.
Besides this onshore terminal, Botas operates operates the FSRU-based Dortyol facility and the FSRU-based Saros terminal.
MVM could also use these facilities in the future to import LNG, including from Qatar.
Hungary is working with Qatar on an LNG supply deal, starting in 2027, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto recently said.
MFGK Croatia, a unit of MVM, already has regasification capacities at the FSRU-based Krk LNG terminal in Croatia.