BUDAPEST, February 17. /TASS/. The Hungarian company MOL expects that Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia through Croatia, which are required due to Ukraine’s move to block deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline, will begin in March.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on February 15 that Budapest and Bratislava had asked Croatia to allow the transportation of Russian oil via the Trans Adriatic pipeline as oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline had been blocked by Ukraine. Croatia agreed citing the EU’s rule emphasizing the need to prevent threats to the energy security of member states.
Russian oil is supposed to be transported to the Croatian port of Omisalj by tankers before being delivered to Hungary and Slovakia via the Trans Adriatic pipeline. MOL noted that maritime deliveries would lead to longer transit times. "The first shipments are expected to arrive at the port of Omisalj in Croatia in early March, from where it will take a further 5-12 days for the crude oil to reach the MOL Group's refineries," the company said in a statement.
MOL has also approached the Hungarian Energy Ministry, initiating the release of about 250,000 tons of strategic crude oil reserves if Ukraine continues to block oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. "The current situation does not threaten fuel supplies: the market is being served without disruption, and MOL continues to operate within the framework of normal business," the company pointed out, adding that both Hungary and Slovakia had "sufficient crude oil reserves for approximately 90 days."
On February 13, oil industry sources told TASS that the management of Ukrtransnafta, the Ukrainian company responsible for oil transit through the country, would not give permission to resume supplies. According to the sources, the company had mitigated the consequences of an accident at the Brody line operation dispatcher station in Ukraine on February 6, but the oil pumping had still not resumed.