Temporary Solutions Secure Supply after Ukraine Blocks Oil Transit to Hungary

Only part of the Russian oil reaches Hungary after Ukraine blocked the transit of Lukoil oil via the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline. Russian sources say that this means a loss of 1.1 million barrels of oil per month. This amount is not only missing on the Hungarian market, but also on the Slovakian market. In Hungary, the Danube refinery and in Slovakia the refinery in Bratislava (both belong to the MOL Group) are the end points of the Druzhba pipeline.

The decision by Ukraine to stop the transit of Russian Lukoil oil to Hungary is incomprehensible and unacceptable, and although temporary solutions have succeeded in stabilizing Hungary’s oil supply, these will not work in the medium term, therefore a solution must be found quickly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó stressed.

In addition, the politician noted that Hungary’s supply is basically secured from Russia through Ukraine via the Friendship pipeline. “Until now, transit through Ukraine has worked. There was a fair energy cooperation between the two countries.

In the past, Hungary has also very often helped Ukraine in various ways to maintain the security of energy supply to the country, despite the rather harsh conditions,”

he underlined.

“In comparison, we were struck by the news that Ukraine has amended its legislation to prevent oil shipments from the Russian company Lukoil from passing through Ukraine to Hungary,” he added. He explained that Hungary and Slovakia buys around two million tons of oil a year from the company.

Hence this decision by Ukraine threatens the security of oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia quite strongly in the long term,”

he warned. “We have indicated to the Ukrainian authorities that this is an incomprehensible, unacceptable and unfriendly decision on their part. They have shown a willingness to correct the situation, but somewhere along the line, these efforts have stalled,” Mr Szijjártó said. “It is strange that a country aspiring to join the European Union is seriously endangering the energy supply of two EU member states,” the Hungarian minister concluded.

The Slovak Prime Minister called the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, to hold him accountable for the decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to add the Russian oil company Lukoil to the list of Ukrainian sanctions against Russia. Robert Fico pointed out to his Ukrainian counterpart that their move was not only unfriendly but also pointless, because it does not cause any particular damage to the Russian economy, but it does to some EU member states.

He emphasized that Slovnaft, the Hungarian MOL group’s oil refinery in Slovakia, receives 40 percent less oil than it needs to operate.

According to the Slovak politician, this is not good not only for Slovaks, but also for Ukrainians, as Slovnaft also exports processed oil products to Ukraine, covering 10 percent of Ukrainian needs.

The Slovak government office said that Robert Fico has been in intensive talks with his ministers and MOL for days on possible solutions.

Via MTI, Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Facebook/Szijjártó Péter