Hungary announced on Tuesday, December 16th a five-year gas supply contract with U.S. energy giant Chevron. This coincides with the country continuing to use Russian energy imports.
For Hungary, it is essential to maintain strong diplomatic relations with the world’s major powers and the government continues to pursue this approach in its foreign policy.
Russian energy imports help Hungary to retain the lowest household energy prices in Europe. By comparison, residents of Prague pay around four times more for gas; in Stockholm these are up to 13 times higher.
Under the agreement, Chevron will deliver 400 million cubic metres of liquefied natural gas annually to Hungary’s state electricity company MVM over the next five years, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said at a media briefing. Standing alongside U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly, Szijjártó described the current phase of Hungarian–U.S. relations as a “golden age” driven by energy cooperation.
Hungary has also recently signed gas supply contracts with Shell, Engie, and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR which together would allow the country to import around 1.4 billion cubic metres of gas per year from non-Russian sources. However, this remains well below the volumes Hungary continues to receive from Russia.
The country is bound by a 15-year contract with Russia’s Gazprom that provides for up to 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually through 2036, with additional agreements in place.
