Hungary signs new agreement with Gazprom to buy more gas from Russia

In addition to the volume agreed in the long-term contract, in September and October Gazprom will deliver up to 5.8 million cubic metres more natural gas per day to Hungary via Serbia – Péter Szijjártó announced on Facebook.

According to the Foreign Minister, the maximum additional amount of gas supplied in August was 2.6 million cubic metres per day, and this will be increased to a maximum of 5.8 million cubic metres per day starting on 1 September. A contract about this has already been signed with Russia's Gazprom.

Mr Szijjártó said that the extra gas supply would depend on "technical and technological issues" and that the extra gas would "contribute to the security of energy supply in Hungary and to avoiding the need to introduce restrictions in the country due to gas shortages". According to the Foreign Minister, Hungary is in a good position in terms of filling its gas storage facilities, which stand at 36.5 percent of consumption.

Szijjártó went to Moscow in July precisely to get more gas. But his trip came at a diplomatic price: as a leader of diplomacy for a NATO and EU member state, the Hungarian foreign minister provided a platform for his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to talk at a joint press conference about, among other things, the Ukrainians shooting themselves in the war so that the Russians could be blamed for the deaths.

Under the long-term, 15-year gas contract, the Russians are supposed to supply 4.5 billion cubic metres a year, but since the outbreak of the war, less gas has been coming from Austria (where 1 billion cubic metres of the 4.5 would come from) than previously agreed. It is this shortage that the Hungarian government wants to make up for with this new amount which is to be delivered via Serbia.