Hungary can modify gas deal with Russia without consulting Commission

(Reuters) - Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday that Budapest will not have to notify or consult with the European Commission if it wants to modify its long-term gas contract with Russia should an EU-wide gas price cap be approved.

Hungary, a European Union member that largely relies on Russian gas and oil imports, has repeatedly said that it opposes a price cap on Russian gas.

European Union ministers were meeting on Monday in an effort to agree the cap on prices.

Last week, Szijjarto said that if the gas price cap was approved, Hungary would need to adjust its deal with Russia, which was open to a possible change.

"It was important for us that in this very bad proposal as a small achievement we got a free hand to modify (the contract). That is, we do not need to consult with the European Commission about modifications to the long-term contract (with Russia) if that becomes necessary in case of a price cap," Szijjarto told a news briefing in Brussels on Monday.

Under a 15-year deal signed last year, before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Hungary currently receives 4.5 B cubic metres (Bcm) of gas per year via Bulgaria and Serbia under a long-term deal with Russia.

Szijjarto also said that at the Brussels meeting he suggested that the European Commission work out a proposal that would ban certain oil pipeline operators from demanding transit fees that are above those of the EU average.

The operator of the Adria pipeline transporting oil from Croatia towards Hungary wants to raise transit fees by 80% next year for Hungarian oil and gas company MOL, Szijjarto said.

He called the raise unfair as the Adria pipeline was a key alternate route to supply Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with crude oil in case there is a problem with the Druzhba pipeline transporting oil to central Europe from Russia.

(Reporting by Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Hugh Lawson)

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