Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary has reached new agreements with Russia that will guarantee the country's uninterrupted natural gas and oil supplies in the coming period.
Speaking in Moscow on Tuesday, after meeting Alexander Novak, Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of energy matters, and Alexey Likhachev, Rosatom’s chief executive, the foreign minister said that although Europe is “proud to have gotten through the winter”, a recent report by the International Energy Agency indicates that energy supply security will be critical in the next heating season. Minister Szijjártó said the uninterrupted supply of Russian gas to Hungary was crucial, welcoming the extension of the option for Hungary to increase, if need be, gas imports beyond the volume specified in the country’s long-term gas purchase agreements. A second agreement extends Hungary’s option to defer payments of its gas over a 150 euro price threshold, irrespective of the current prices, he said. Minister Szijjártó said some 80% of Hungary’s oil supply had been delivered via the Druzhba pipeline in 2022, adding that Hungary and Russia had agreed that the Russian supplier would continue delivering the oil to Hungary’s oil and gas company MOL via the Ukraine-Hungary border.