Hungary’s gas supply for the winter is secure.
Energy Minister István Kapitány announced this, stating that storage levels in gas facilities will reach nearly 90% by the start of the heating season in October. (The current fill level would cover 70% of winter gas demand.) Including domestic production — which recently reached 1.5–2 billion cubic metres — and imports, the country’s supply is secured.
Fix prices in advance!
The former Shell senior executive, who also serves as Economy Minister, once again routinely added criticism of Fidesz to his remarks, which did not go unanswered. Kapitány argued that it is standard practice on energy markets to fix prices in advance, so that the state does not find itself in an emergency situation in the event of extreme scenarios such as wars and supply shortfalls. The Orbán government, however, has only capped prices until the end of the year, leaving the harshest winter months of January and February uncovered.
Olivér Hortay then spoke up — he is the person Fidesz had only just brought into parliament as a member of parliament after the fact. The energy expert had previously worked as a researcher and immediately made clear: gas prices cannot be fixed. In long-term gas supply contracts, the price moves in line with market developments according to a formula; on the exchange, there are spot and forward transactions. “The Orbán government, together with the state energy holding company MVM, secured the gas requirements of private households for years through long-term supply contracts — contracts that the minister criticized on more than one occasion,” Hortay wrote on social media.
If, however, Kapitány was referring to the contracts by which MVM purchased gas volumes at the end of 2026 at a lower price for future delivery through forward contracts, this behavior stemmed from a risk assessment for which the Tisza government ought to be grateful. It would, however, be absurd to expect such options transactions to be planned years in advance. The apparently lacking expertise of the new leadership makes it all the more troubling that the MVM management team was replaced very quickly after the parliamentary elections for political reasons.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original German text.
