The agreement will be in force for 10+5 years, with an option to modify, even lower, delivery volume after the 10th year, he said. 

Under the agreement, Hungary will buy 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year from Gazprom, including 3.5 bln delivered from the south, through Hungary's interconnector with Serbia, and 1 bln via the pipeline running from Austria.

Szijjártó said the price for gas agreed in the contract is much more favorable than the one in the 1995 delivery agreement expiring this year, and it will help keep Hungarian retail gas price one of the lowest in Europe.

The minister said the reality is that in the absence of real, workable alternatives, Hungary's energy supply can currently be guaranteed most securely and predictably within the framework of a long-term contract with Gazprom.

"In Hungary, energy supply is a security, sovereignty, and economic issue, not a political one. Homes and houses cannot be heated with political resolutions, but with gas, and the same is true for the viability of industry," he said.