Budapest, September 10 (HS): Energy-dependent Hungary has signed a new 10-year gas supply agreement with British energy giant Shell, marking its largest and longest-term contract with a Western partner to date. However, Hungarian officials clarified that Russian gas imports will continue to remain the country’s primary energy source.

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, speaking at a gas conference in Milan, said the deal covers the delivery of 2 billion cubic meters of gas over a decade, beginning in 2026. He described it as the most significant agreement Hungary has ever concluded with a Western energy company.

Hungary already has an existing arrangement with Shell for the supply of 250 million cubic meters annually between 2021 and 2027. The new contract supplements this by adding far larger volumes and a longer timeframe.

Szijjártó stressed that the agreement does not signal a shift in Hungary’s reliance on Russia. “For us, diversification does not mean abandoning existing sources and routes, but rather adding new ones,” he said.

Hungary continues to rely heavily on Russian state-owned Gazprom, with a 15-year agreement in place guaranteeing 4.5 billion cubic meters of annual supply until 2036. This long-term deal has been reinforced in recent years with additional short-term supply arrangements.

Most of Hungary’s Russian gas arrives via the TurkStream pipeline and its Balkan Stream extension, running through Bulgaria and Serbia. Given this dependency, Budapest has consistently opposed the European Union’s proposal to phase out Russian fossil fuel imports altogether.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar