Natural gas storage facilities in Hungary switched from storage to storage on Easter Monday 2024, and since then the amount of available stock has been steadily increasing, gas storage capacity has remained consistently above the two-thirds level since last July, the Ministry of Energy (ME) told MTI on Saturday.
Recently, Hungary has been storing natural gas at a much faster pace than the European Union's shipping schedule. The 90 percent rate required for November 1 had already been met by the end of last summer. The Outstanding Local Capacity Index peaked at more than 98 percent last fall. The ministry explained that even on February 1, the occupancy rate was much higher than the 51 percent expected at that time, or more than 76 percent.
In the final days of the official heating season, the stock volume reached 4.5 billion cubic meters – occupying 67-68 percent of the total capacity of household facilities – equivalent to one and a half times the residential use for the whole of 2023. The Finance Ministry announced that 44 percent of total consumption was the third largest in Europe, more than double the EU average.
The Ministry indicated that compared to an average of more than 10 billion cubic meters for the period from 2017 to 2022, gas consumption decreased to approach 8 billion cubic meters in the period from April 2023 to March 2024.
They pointed out that the government will launch a new home renovation program at the beginning of next June to improve energy efficiency. From the budget of 108 billion HUF, a total of 6 million HUF can be obtained in the form of non-refundable subsidies and interest-free loans for energy retrofitting of family homes built before 1990. The program can help approximately 20 thousand families save energy By at least 30 percent. This way, beneficiaries can more easily keep their consumption within the utility's protected range, the emerging markets announcement said.
Business talks '24
Business conference
Follow Index on Facebook too!
