Hungary ready to abandon Russian gas by October 2027

The Hungarian government will be able, if necessary, to comply with the European Union’s requirement to abandon the use of Russian gas by the deadline set for October 2027. This was stated by the Hungarian Minister of Economy and Energy Istvan Capitan in an interview with Telex.

Mr. Captain said that Hungary is in talks to increase supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with neighboring countries, including Romania. The necessary infrastructure, cross-border pipelines, also exists. “If the situation develops as expected now, Hungary’s gas needs can and will be met from other sources,” he said.

Hungary has yet to see “whether there will be a need” to completely abandon Russian gas, as “it is difficult to predict the development of events in advance,” the minister said. At the same time, he assured, Russia remains the main source of LNG, "because it is cost-effective." “It is necessary to find out from what other directions it can be obtained in a cost-effective way,” Istvan Kapitan explained.

In January 2026, the Council of the European Union agreed on a plan to completely ban the supply of Russian LNG from January 1, 2027 and pipeline gas from September 30, 2027. In exceptional cases, EU members will be able to extend the use of Russian gas until October 31, 2027. Slovakia and Hungary opposed the initiative.