BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR began injecting the first 50 million cubic meters of gas into Hungarian storage facilities, said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, TurkicWorld reports.

"Over the past year and a half, Europe has been facing a serious energy crisis, with rising prices due to sanctions and disruptions in traditional supply routes. However, Hungary's energy supply has remained stable throughout this time," the minister wrote on his Facebook page.

The largest Hungarian wholesale natural gas trader, MVM CEEnergy, and SOCAR signed a contract on June 2 to transport 100 million cubic meters of gas, with deliveries set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023.

While the contract is a one-time deal, negotiations for further cooperation are ongoing. The existing infrastructure will be used for these gas deliveries.

Azerbaijan began supplying gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. The initial capacity of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is the European section of the corridor, is 10 billion cubic meters per year, with the potential for expansion up to 20 billion cubic meters.