Hungary will stop procuring natural gas from Russia by the fall 2027 deadline set by the European Union, according to a statement made by Foreign Minister Anita Orbán in an interview with Telex. Asked whether the Hungarian government expects to keep access to Russian gas, the minister answered: “The European Union has set a clear deadline for the phased abandonment of Russian natural gas: the fall of 2027.”
Speaking about other possible sources of gas for Hungary, Orbán mentioned the Vertical Gas Corridor, which carries Azeri natural gas and regasified LNG from Greece to Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova. According to the country’s Foreign Minister, Hungary could also receive fuel via this route.
Budapest also seeks to cease its purchases of Russian oil, Orbán said, explaining that the country’s largest oil and gas company, MOL, is working to adapt its refining capacity. It aims to secure supplies of non-Russian oil, for example through the Croatian JANAF pipeline.
“So if we look at the regional energy infrastructure related to natural gas and crude oil, at energy security in general, we will see that Hungary can play a very important stabilizing role, acting as a transit territory and distribution hub for both natural gas and crude oil. We have the largest storage capacity; we are connected to six countries; we can supply other countries too, and in the oil sector MOL’s role is decisive in the region. We hope that thanks to the elections in Serbia, Hungary will become a strategic partner in the region for the United States.”
According to Orbán, negotiations on access to the JANAF pipeline could progress faster if a deal between MOL and the Serbian oil company NIS is finalized. Russia’s Gazprom Neft still holds a controlling stake in NIS — 44.85%. On Oct. 20, Serbian Finance Minister Siniša Mali told Bloomberg Adria TV that an agreement had been signed to transfer the Russian company’s share to MOL; however, the next day, the MOL Group stated that the document had not yet been signed.
Hungary’s stance on Russian energy resources changed after the opposition Tisza party came to power in May 2026. The previous government of Viktor Orbán opposed giving up Russian gas. This past February, Hungary filed a lawsuit with the European Court of Justice challenging the REPowerEU regulation, which provides for a complete ban on Russian gas imports in 2027.
