The news was announced by Tamás Menczer, the State Secretary responsible for the development of bilateral relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in a Facebook post on Saturday.
As he wrote: Due to the war taking place in our neighborhood and the sanctions response to it, Europe is facing a serious energy supply crisis. Despite the dramatic rise in natural gas prices, the question today is not primarily how much gas costs, but whether there will be enough for the winter period.
Hungary leads the way in terms of filling gas storage units in proportion to consumption, a level above 32% would be sufficient in normal times - especially since the European average is below 20% - but unfortunately we are not living in normal times, so we have to be absolutely sure.
That is why the government previously decided that approximately 700 million cubic meters of natural gas should be purchased in addition to the quantities already contracted.
Knowing today's European market conditions, it is clear that the acquisition of such a large amount is impossible without Russian sources, which is why Minister Péter Szijjártó recently held negotiations in Moscow, which were followed by several trade negotiations. These led to an agreement, as a result of which Gazprom started delivering above the already contracted volumes yesterday morning. In the first phase, 2.6 million cubic meters of extra volume will arrive daily from the south through the Turkish Stream pipeline until the end of August, and negotiations are already underway on the September schedule.
The Hungarian government has an obligation to ensure the country's safe supply of natural gas, and we fulfill this obligation - concluded the post.
