Hungary has bought 8.5 million tons of crude oil and 7 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia this year, Szijjártó proudly announced

"So far this year, 8.5 million tons of crude oil and more than 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas have arrived from Russia," said Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on Facebook. According to him, maintaining this energy cooperation is in Hungary's fundamental national interest, and abandoning it would be contrary to Hungarian national interests.

He added that the long-term guarantee for reduced utility costs in Hungary is the construction of new units at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant. "For the first time in recent years, we have a situation where neither European nor American sanctions are hindering construction, and all Hungarian permits are in place." According to him, work in Paks is "in full swing," such as preparations for the first pouring of concrete, which is scheduled to take place on February 5.

The Hungarian government likes to emphasize that the country decoupling from Russian gas and oil is not a realistic option. In fact, only two countries in the EU are still purchasing Russian crude oil: Hungary and Slovakia, and in principle, they are exempt from US sanctions on the Druzhba pipeline. (Though there is still no official confirmation of this from the relevant US authorities, Péter Szijjártó and Mol claim it is in effect.)

As reported several times before, the price advantage of Russian crude oil makes it worthwhile for Mol and the Hungarian government to maintain this source of imports for as long as possible. However, Hungarian drivers no longer enjoy any advantage from the lower price of Russian oil, as fuel prices have been consistently above the EU average since 2023, and it is more expensive to fill up at home than in the Czech or Austrian markets, which are in a similar situation.

Most of Mol's extra profits have been taken by the state in the form of special taxes, and the government is already projecting significantly lower revenues from this source next year – meaning that maintaining Russian oil does not represent a significant budgetary advantage.

Decoupling from Russian oil would be financially manageable for the government, since the decline in Mol's profits would at most result in losing around ten billion forints in tax revenues, while maintaining a security supply could be secured from other sources.

In the case of natural gas, Hungary's dependence on Russian energy was true until the cross-border pipelines were built. A certain degree of dependence – apart from the fact that Russian crude oil can be replaced by oil of essentially the same quality from other sources – also exists for crude oil in the short term, until the necessary investments in the Danube Refinery are completed.

The situation was similar regarding the fuel rods for the Paks nuclear power plant until another manufacturer was found – but by now, the state already has contracts with France's Framatome and America's Westinghouse for the import of fuel elements. What remains unchanged, however, is that the construction of the new reactors is being carried out with Russian loans and is based on Russian technology.