Hungary negotiates additional gas supplies from Gazprom in 2025

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said that Hungary and Russian energy giant Gazprom are negotiating additional gas purchases by Budapest for 2025.

The Russian news outlet reiterated that Gazprom and the Hungarian energy company MVM signed a memorandum of understanding on 10 October on the possibility of increasing Russian gas supplies to Hungary. 

"In fact, we are increasing the volume. We have already signed one [additional agreement – ed.] for the last quarter of this year, which covers additional volumes at a price that guarantees competitive pricing. We are now negotiating an agreement for next year," Szijjártó said in an interview with RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet.

He added that this is about increasing the volume of gas purchased. To do so, they plan to use the full potential of the TurkStream.

TurkStream, built just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, delivers Russian gas under the Black Sea to the European territory of Türkiye and then to Bulgaria, where it is called the Balkan Stream. Bulgaria does not import gas from this pipeline but provides transit to Serbia and then to Hungary.

Szijjártó stated that the memorandum of understanding signed in St Petersburg with Gazprom establishes for future years the practice of additional agreements to long-term contracts that guarantee price competitiveness. 

In August, Szijjártó stated that "Hungary's energy security cannot be guaranteed without Russian gas".