Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President and CEO of E.ON Johannes Teyssen signed a declaration of intent in Parliament on Friday with regard to the transfer of the E.ON Group's stake in the Hungarian natural gas industry to state-owned MVM Hungarian Electricity Ltd.

Hungary's energy policy endeavours to establish long-term security of supply, and accordingly it has an interest in expanding its activities within the fields of natural gas distribution and storage through the MVM Group. In the spirit of mutually fruitful Hungarian-German economic and trade relations that are based on decades of tradition, the signatories to the declaration expressed their intent to continue negotiations in good faith and taking into account the interests of both parties so that the E.ON Group's stake in the Hungarian natural gas industry may – assuming mutually favourable terms and conditions and the acceptable management of any risks that may arise by the parties – be transferred to MVM within the framework of a share purchase agreement that shall be finally agreed upon and undersigned by 15 December 2012 and concluded no later than 31. January 2013.

E.ON purchased majority ownership in MOL’s natural gas business in 2005 for 2.1 billion euros. In 2011, E.ON’s revenues from the Hungarian natural gas sector reached 1.95 billion euros. The Hungarian Government’s objective is to ensure energy security within the Hungarian natural gas market. Therefore the Government has obtained an option to repurchase E.ON's stake in the company, which will expire in 2016. Minister of State heading the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár noted in October at a press briefing that only in this way can gas prices paid by citizens be kept under control and at realistic levels, otherwise gas prices will become disproportionately high in Hungary. This fact is also supported by Eurostat data from 2011, showing that natural gas prices for household consumers in Hungary are the second highest within the EU, while industrial consumer prices rose by almost 30% in 2010-2011, the second highest rise compared to other Member States.

(Prime Minister’s Office)