(The Center Square) – Hungary's state-owned MVM Group on Tuesday signed a five-year agreement with Chevron to purchase 400 million cubic meters of liquified natural gas annually, marking the first time American gas will be integrated into Hungary's energy mix.

Chevron is likely to provide LNG from supplies sourced at Energy Transfer’s Lake Charles export facility in Louisiana. Chevron has signed long-term agreements with Energy Transfer to purchase 3 million tons of LNG annually from the plant, which is expected to begin operations in 2028 or 2029. The gas supplied by Chevron will reach Hungary via the Krk LNG terminal in Croatia. 

Hungary has faced pressure to diversify its energy supplies away from Russian sources, which remain the nation's top supplier. Russia supplied Hungary with a record 8.6 billion cubic meters of gas in 2024, and similar volumes are expected for 2025.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently secured assurances from  Russian President Vladimir Putin that contractual deliveries will continue via the TurkStream and Druzhba pipelines, which run through about a dozen countries in Russia, Eastern and Central Europe and Turkey.

Earlier this month, Hungary filed a legal challenge with the European Court of Justice over a recent decision by the European Union to mandate that member countries ban all Russian gas imports by late 2027. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the prohibition violates national sovereignty.

Szijjarto said the agreement with Chevron is "an important milestone in American-Hungarian energy cooperation."

Combined with the deal, supply agreements with Shell, France’s Engie and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR take Hungary’s non-Russian gas supply to approximately 1.4 billion cubic meters annually.

“We are interested in purchasing energy from as many sources and via as many routes as possible, ensuring the lowest prices,” Szijjarto posted on X.