Hungary will reach an agreement to purchase oil from the United States during the visit of US Vice President J.D. Vance to Budapest on Tuesday, just days before the country's crucial general election, Bloomberg reports, citing a source familiar with the situation, writes UNN.
Details
Hungarian energy company Mol Nyrt. will agree to purchase 500,000 tons for approximately $500 million, the source said. Other details are not yet available. Mol Nyrt. has increased its purchases of Russian oil after receiving sanctions exemptions from both the US and the EU.
The deal will be announced during a press conference between the US Vice President and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as Vance seeks to bolster the position of the Hungarian leader, who, according to independent opinion polls, could be ousted in Sunday's election after 16 years in power. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly supported Orbán, an ideological ally in the nationalist camp and a frequent rival of the EU.
Orbán, who has doubled down on Russian energy since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has also sought to forge ties with the Trump administration through energy deals, the publication writes.
At a White House meeting in November, Orbán agreed to purchase 400 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas over five years and sign a $114 million contract with Westinghouse Electric Co. to purchase nuclear fuel for Hungary's nuclear power plant. In return, the Trump administration granted Hungary an exemption from rules for purchasing Russian oil.
The parties also signed a memorandum of understanding, according to which Hungary can purchase up to 10 small modular reactors as part of a deal that, according to the US State Department, could be worth up to $20 billion.
The US also plays a key role in Mol's bid to acquire a controlling stake in PJSC Gazprom Neft in the sanctioned Serbian oil refinery Naftna Industrija Srbije. Last month, Mol stated that the US had agreed to extend the waiver of sanctions against NIS until May 22 to give Mol time to complete the deal.
Orbán's ties with Russia have become a central issue in the election campaign. In October, the Hungarian leader, in a phone call with Vladimir Putin, expressed his readiness to do a lot to help the Russian president, including helping to settle the war in Ukraine by organizing a summit in Budapest, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
It was also reported earlier that the government in Budapest intervened on behalf of Moscow to achieve the lifting of EU sanctions.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded that close cooperation with Russia, including phone calls with his Russian counterpart before and after EU meetings, is natural given the close ties between Budapest and Moscow, including on oil, gas, and nuclear energy.
Péter Magyar, a former high-ranking official of the ruling elite who became a critic and leads the Tisza party, which is leading in the polls, portrays Orbán as a puppet of Russia and claims that the nationalist leader has undermined Hungary's sovereignty. He has promised to return Hungary to the European mainstream and weaken ties with Russia.
Three independent polls last week showed Tisza moving towards victory. Two of these polls show the party close to the threshold needed to win two-thirds of the seats in parliament, which would allow for a swift dismantling of Orbán's so-called illiberal system.
"No foreign power can interfere in Hungarian elections," Magyar said on Tuesday in connection with Vance's arrival: "This is our homeland. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, nor in Moscow, nor in Brussels, but in the streets and squares of Hungary."