Hungary and Gazprom in Talks for Extra Russian Gas for Budapest in 2025

Hungary and Russia's Gazprom are negotiating a deal for additional gas supplies next year to Budapest, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told Russia's RIA news agency in remarks published on Tuesday (15 October).

"We have already signed one (additional agreement) for the last quarter of this year, which covers additional volumes at a competitive price. We are currently negotiating a deal for next year," Szijjártó told RIA.

The Russian energy giant said last week, without providing detail, that it signed a memorandum with Hungary on a possible increase in sales of Russian gas.

Szijjártó told RIA that the memorandum includes a provision on additional agreements to long-term contracts for future years, which guarantee price competitiveness.

Hungary and Gapzrom also signed a deal last week that allows them to fully utilise the TurkStream gas pipeline.

The TurkStream pipeline, built just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, circumvents this country by bringing Russian gas under the Black Sea to the European territory of Turkey, and then to Bulgaria, where it is called Balkan Stream. Bulgaria doesn’t import gas from this pipeline, but ensures the transit to Serbia, and further to Hungary.

That deal, Szijjártó told RIA, enables Budapest increase the volumes purchased under "all commercial contracts".

Russia currently exports its natural gas to Europe via two routes: a Soviet-built pipeline which crosses Ukraine, and the TurkStream. Russia's gas transit deal with Ukraine is due to expire at the end of the year.

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Separately, Szijjártó told RIA that Budapest will veto European Union sanctions on Russia if the exemption for Hungary to purchase Russian oil is cancelled.

"Sanctions are usually reviewed every six months. And while sanctions are in place, these exceptions must remain in force, because otherwise we will veto the sanctions," Szijjártó said.

Hungarian energy group MOL reached a deal in September for the continual supply of Russian oil through Belarus and Ukraine via the Druzhba pipeline, after Kyiv's addition of Russia's Lukoil to a sanctions list in June led the Hungarian government to voice concerns about security of supply.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022, the EU adopted a package of sanctions against Moscow that included an import ban on all Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products with some limited exemptions.