The Hungarian government has struck an agreement with the Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom to buy and store its 2020 gas supplies earlier than usual to offset the risk of Russia failing to agree gas transit terms with Ukraine. Besides, Hungary expanded its domestic gas storage capacity from 5.6 bcm to 6.3 bcm to guarantee safe supply through 2020. In 2018, Hungary increased its gas imports from Gazprom by 9.3%, to a total of 7.6 bcm; according to preliminary data unveiled by Gazprom, gas supplies continued to grow in early 2019 (+12% over the 1 January-20 March period).
The current transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine will expire at the end of 2019 and a new agreement has not yet been negotiated, which means supply issues may arise in the winter 2019-2020. Hungary intends to prepare for this scenario and thus signed the agreement with Gazprom taking into account the worst case scenario.
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