Hungary and Russia's Gazprom are in talks about extra gas for Budapest by 2025

Hungary and Russia’s Gazprom have begun negotiations for an agreement to supply additional gas next year to Budapest. Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, told the Russian news agency RIA in remarks published Tuesday.

"We've already signed an additional agreement for the fourth quarter of this fiscal year. It covers additional volumes and is priced competitively. Szijjarto said to RIA that we are currently negotiating a contract for next year.

Last week, the Russian energy giant announced, without giving any details, that it had signed a memorandum with Hungary regarding a possible increase of sales of Russian Gas.

Szijjarto said to RIA that the memorandum contains a provision for additional agreements on long-term contracts in future years which guarantees price competitiveness.

Last week, Hungary and Gapzrom signed an agreement that will allow them to use the TurkStream pipeline in full.

Szijjarto, RIA reported, said that the deal allows Budapest to increase the volume purchased under "all contracts commercial".

Russia exports natural gas via two routes to Europe: the Soviet-built TurkStream pipeline that runs along the Black Sea bed, and a pipeline built by the Soviet Union which crosses Ukraine. The Russian gas transit agreement with Ukraine expires at the end this year.

Szijjarto also told RIA, Budapest would veto European Union Sanctions on Russia if Hungary's exemption to buy Russian oil was revoked.

"Sanctions usually are reviewed every six-months." While sanctions are in effect, these exceptions need to remain in place. Otherwise, we'll veto sanctions", Szijjarto stated.

Hungarian energy company MOL signed a contract in September to supply Russian oil via Belarus and Ukraine through the Druzhba Pipeline. This was after Kyiv added Russia's Lukoil on a list of sanctions in June, which led to the Hungarian Government expressing concerns over the security of the supply.

The EU adopted sanctions against Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine on a full scale in February 2022. These included an import prohibition on all Russian crude oil and petroleum product shipped by sea, with some exceptions. (Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue in Melbourne, and Christopher Cushing.)

(source: Reuters)