Hungary on Tuesday announced a five-year gas supply contract with US company Chevron, but it will still rely heavily on Russia for energy.
The central European nation of 9.5 million people has remained the Kremlin’s closest partner in the European Union despite Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Hungary has resisted EU and US calls to reduce its energy dependency on Moscow.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban last month vowed to keep importing Russian hydrocarbons during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in spite of an EU plan to ban all imports of Russian gas before the end of 2027.
The deal between Chevron and Hungary’s state electricity company MVM foresees the annual delivery of 400 million cubic metres of liquified natural gas five years, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a media briefing.
Standing alongside US Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly, the minister hailed a “golden age” of cooperation between the two NATO countries underpinned by energy cooperation.
MVM has in recent months signed contracts with Shell of Britain, France’s Engie and Azerbaijani concern SOCAR. Together with the Chevron deal, they would enable Hungary to bring in 1.4 billion cubic metres of gas annually from non-Russian sources.
But Hungary’s 15-year supply contract with Russia’s Gazprom allows for 4.5 billion cubic meters a year through 2036. Additional supply agreements also have been made in recent years.
Szijjarto previously said seven billion cubic metres of Russian gas had arrived in Hungary up to the end of November. Last year, Hungary consumed about 8.5 billion cubic metres.
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