Ukraine Demands More Money for Transit Supplying Oil to Hungary

Oil pumping through the Ukrainian section of the Friendship pipeline was stopped and shortly after resumed on Wednesday. This week, Ukraine announced that it plans to raise the transit fee for Russian oil shipments to countries of the region, including Hungary. 

Ukraine resumed oil pumping on the previously shut-down Ukrainian section of the Friendship oil pipeline at 17:46 CET, Igor Dyomin, an adviser to the president of the Russian pipeline company Transeft told the RIA Novosti news agency.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dyomin also announced the shutdown of a section of the southern branch of the Friendship oil pipeline in Ukraine, MTI reports.

On Monday, Ukrtransnafta informed Transnafta that Kiev plans to raise the transit fee for Russian oil shipments via the Friendship pipeline from 2023. According to RIA Novosti, Ukrtransnafta already raised the tariff in April this year. On an annual basis, transit costs have risen by 51 percent.

Transport fluctuations should be expected in the coming period. We are prepared for this, and these situations will not affect the security of Hungary’s oil supply,

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said.

According to the minister, the EU sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine have only exacerbated the situation. These “clearly failed” measures have led to an energy crisis and are causing more trouble for Europe than for those against whom they were imposed.

Featured photo via MTI/EPA/Martin Divisek