Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said another "brave and sovereign decision" could result in the construction of a crude pipeline between Hungary and Serbia.
After a meeting with Dubravka Dedovic, Serbia's energy minister, in Belgrade on Wednesday, Minister Szijjártó said the feasibility study for the pipeline had been completed in Hungary and presented to representatives of both governments by Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on Wednesday. He added that the Serbian side had cleared the zoning regulations necessary for the construction.
Minister Szijjártó said the pipeline, which will bring crude to Serbia, could finish by 2028. Before that, capacity of the pipeline running from the Ukrainian-Hungarian border to MOL's refinery south of the capital needs to be expanded, while a 190km pipeline must be constructed running to the Serbian border, he added.
Minister Szijjártó said the capacity of the new pipeline would be around 4.5m tonnes per year, allowing the Pancevo refinery and Serbia to be supplied entirely from Hungary.
He pointed to serious challenges to energy security in Central Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine and said Brussels had not offered any assistance in the matter, rather it had often taken steps that were opposed to the region's energy security interests.
"On this topic, it's clear that we can only rely on ourselves," he added.
He acknowledged the "enormous role" Hungarian-Serbian energy cooperation plays to ensure both countries' energy security, noting that Hungary gets its gas via Serbia, through the TurkStream pipeline.