Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic dampened expectations that Hungary could use a pipeline controlled by his country to help replace Russian oil supplies halted by a blockage in Ukraine.
Oil transit along the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary has been halted since late last month amid large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Mol Group, Hungary’s largest energy company, said no oil has been delivered via Ukraine since Jan. 27.
Plenkovic was speaking shortly after Mol said it had asked its government to release strategic oil reserves to keep its refineries operating.
He said he would consider Hungary’s request to import Russian crude oil via Croatian ports and pipelines. He added Croatia will see how it can fulfill its neighborly role while respecting European Union and US bans on Russian crude.
“There is an exemption that allows Hungary to buy Russian crude but there is also a system of US sanctions that says something completely opposite,” Plenkovic said Monday.
To access enough oil, Mol has started supplying its refineries with seaborne crude. However, these shipments are only expected to arrive at the port of Omisalj in Croatia in early March, according to the company, and it will then take 5-12 days for the oil to reach its refineries.
Hungary relies on the Druzhba pipeline for most of its oil flows and has accused Ukraine of using it for political leverage. The country will need to release around 250,000 tons of reserves if flows through the pipeline are not resumed in coming days, Mol said Monday.
Janaf, Croatia’s state-owned pipeline operator, is already transporting non-Russian crude to Mol refineries in Hungary and Slovakia. In recent months, Mol repeatedly complained about Janaf’s capacity and higher-than-usual costs, charges that Janaf has rejected.
Plenkovic said that the current situation shows that Janaf has been able to satisfy Hungarian import needs all along.
It “confirms what Croatia has been saying all along, that the Hungarian exemption to get crude from Russia is entirely unnecessary,” he said.
Energy policy featured in talks between Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Budapest on Monday. Rubio said Hungary’s exemption from US sanctions were testimony to the warmth of President Donald Trump’s feelings towards Orban.
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