Hungarian power company MVM has signed a five-year agreement with United States’ Chevron for the delivery of two billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG), announced Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Tuesday in Budapest.
At a joint press conference with U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly, the minister emphasized that with President Donald Trump taking office in January this year, the previously hostile relationship between the two countries has been replaced by a new golden age, with energy cooperation being an important pillar of this relationship.
He reported that this consists of two parts: natural gas supply and nuclear energy, and that an extremely important milestone has now been reached in the former area with the signing of a contract between MVM and Chevron, under which the American company will supply 400 million cubic meters of LNG to Hungary annually for five years.
This means that over the next five years, a total of two billion cubic meters of U.S.-sourced liquefied natural gas will be added to Hungary’s energy supply, which has never happened before (…) This is the first time that U.S. liquefied natural gas has been part of Hungary’s energy supply,”
he said.
“We Hungarians are interested in purchasing energy sources from as many sources and routes as possible, and consequently at the best possible price, as cheaply as possible,” he continued. “This is in the interest of Hungary, the Hungarian economy, and Hungarian families, because this is how we can maintain the results of the utility cost reduction program, and this is how we can ensure that Hungarian families pay the lowest energy bills in all of Europe,” he added.
Péter Szijjártó emphasized that, in contrast, Brussels wants to cut off certain energy sources and certain transport routes, and “praises those who attack energy transport routes that are critical to Hungary’s energy supply.”
“While Washington contributes to the security of Hungary’s energy supply, we must constantly fight with Brussels. We must fight to ensure that Brussels does not cause us uncertainty in our energy supply and does not cause brutal price increases in Hungary,” he noted.
He then touched on bilateral cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.
Nuclear energy is the long-term solution for Hungary (…) Our clear goal is to increase the role of nuclear energy in Hungary, which requires increasing nuclear capacity, and we will increase nuclear capacity while also increasing the role of U.S.-Hungarian nuclear cooperation,”
he said.
“As we will be extending the operating life of the existing Paks nuclear power plant and building two new large units, we will need more nuclear fuel elements in the future than before, which is why we have signed a contract with Westinghouse and will be introducing American fuel elements into the Hungarian nuclear industry from 2028-2029,” he said.
“In addition, we have already agreed on the safe, environmentally friendly storage of used nuclear fuel elements, and we have also agreed to build small modular nuclear power plants in Hungary with American technological support,” he recalled.
The minister explained that Hungarian-American energy cooperation is “based on common sense,” on the understanding that energy supply is not an ideological issue, but a physical one. “While the United States understands that geography plays a decisive role in a country’s energy supply, Brussels is unfortunately unable to comprehend this,” he said. “We greatly appreciate Donald Trump’s decision to exempt Hungary from U.S. sanctions on Russian energy carriers. Donald Trump’s decision has ensured that Hungary’s natural gas and oil supplies remain secure and has enabled us to accelerate the construction of the Paks nuclear power plant,” he emphasized.
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Via MTI, Featured image: MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt
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