Hungary signs long-term gas supply contract with France's Engie

Hungary will buy a total of four billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from French energy company Engie between 2028 and 2038. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said today that deliveries will amount to 400 million cubic meters a year. Hungary's gas consumption last year was around 8.5 billion cubic meters.

Representatives of Engie and Hungarian energy company MVM signed the gas supply agreement in Budapest, Reuters reported. “It will be an important pillar of Hungary's energy security,” Szijjártó said after the contract was signed. He said it was the longest LNG purchase contract Hungary had ever signed.

Hungary, along with Slovakia, has reservations about the European Union's efforts to end energy imports from Russia. EU representatives, member states and other leaders have repeatedly urged Bratislava and Budapest to stop importing Russian energy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said this week, however, that his country would remain dependent on Russian energy, despite US President Donald Trump's demand that all EU and NATO countries stop buying Russian oil and gas. Moscow uses revenue from raw material sales to finance its war effort in Ukraine.

In 2021, Hungary signed a 15-year contract under which it receives 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Russian gas company Gazprom.