BUDAPEST, April 20. /TASS/. Hungary and Serbia intend to sign an agreement in June 2023 on the construction of an oil pipeline designed to facilitate deliveries of Russian oil via the Hungarian leg of the Druzhba oil pipeline to Serbian consumers, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Thursday.

The planned oil pipeline will be laid between Algyo, Hungary, and Novi Sad, Serbia, the minister said. "Talks between MOL [MOL Plc., Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited Company - TASS ] and Transnafta [Serbia’s TRANSNAFTA JSC - TASS] under this project are continuing. An agreement to that effect may be signed at the Serbian-Hungarian summit scheduled for June," Szijjarto noted.

Russian oil supplies delivered via the Druzhba pipeline have not come under EU sanctions.

The planned Algyo-Novi Sad pipeline would have a length of 128 km and an estimated construction cost of around 100 mln euro, the minister said earlier. An existing gas pipeline corridor running from Serbia to Hungary could potentially also accommodate the oil pipeline. According to forecasts, construction work on the Hungary-to-Serbia pipeline would last from 18 to 24 months.