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● For Zsolt Hernadi, keeping an eye on Moscow goes with the job.

Russian companies are both partners and potential threats to the independence of Mol, the Hungarian energy group Mr Hernadi heads. Gazprom is its main gas supplier while Surgutneftegaz, a Russian oil company with close Kremlin ties, this year unexpectedly turned up as the unwelcome owner of a 21 per cent stake in Mol.

Surgutneftegaz bought its shares from OMV after the Austrian group pulled out of a €20bn ($30bn, £18bn) bid for Mol amid opposition from the company and the Hungarian authorities. Mr Hernadi, who has led Mol since 2000, accused OMV of acting as a “front” for Russian interests. OMV denied the claim. But relationships remain difficult in spite of the fact that Mol and OMV co-operate on issues including the strategic Nabucco pipeline.

Like other energy groups, Mol – which has big investments in Slovakia and Croatia and interests in the Middle East and Pakistan – is struggling with the recession. Net profits in the first nine months fell 75 per cent to Ft42.9bn ($240m, €159m, £145m).

Mr Hernadi does not expect a winter gas supply crisis, saying Moscow did not want to be seen to be influencing Ukraine’s January presidential election: “Storage is full. Demand is weak, spot prices low. I don’t see too many interests in [creating] this kind of crisis.”

Hungary supplies about 15 per cent of its gas from domestic production, with the rest coming from Russia. With few other energy resources, it is more dependent than other EU members on gas, which accounts for 40 per cent of primary energy consumption.

After the 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, Budapest ordered the construction of a $850m strategic store to supplement commercial storage. This was completed in October and the country can now store half its annual consumption, a capacity among Europe’s highest.

Mr Hernadi says Hungary last year assisted gas-short neighbours and would do so again. An interconnector to Romania is due to be completed this year and one to Croatia by 2011. Mol is a partner in Nabucco as well as a liquefied natural gas terminal planned for the Croatian island of Krk.

Better energy links could lead to an integrated regional market with “good negotiating power”, says Mr Hernadi. In central and eastern Europe, “with 150m people we have a gas market close [in size] to the German market”.

Additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk in Kiev, Thomas Escritt in Budapest and Nikolai Petrov in Sofia

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