BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Hungary aims to diversify its options for importing natural gas by increasing the amount of gas it gets through Azerbaijan's role in Nabucco, an envoy said.
Hungarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zsolt Chutora told the regional Trend news agency that his country was keen to get more natural gas from Azerbaijan.
"Currently, we import very little energy resources from Azerbaijan," he was quoted as saying. "But we are ready to increase imports."
He said his country could realize the increase in Azeri gas imports through the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline and an interconnector from Georgia and Romania.
Hungarian energy company MOL holds a 16.67 percent stake in the Nabucco pipeline consortium.
Nabucco would run through Turkey to Austria, crossing Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary. The route closely follows Russia's plans for South Stream, considered a rival to Nabucco.
The project is meant to break the Russian grip on the European energy sector, though the project had faced obstacles in securing commitments from potential gas suppliers.
Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, signed a joint declaration on gas delivery for Europe during a January meeting with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, however.
Barroso described the agreement as a "major breakthrough" for European energy security and projects in the Southern Corridor. Baku agreed to supply "substantial volumes of gas" for European consumers, the EC said.
