BRUSSELS, March 19. /TASS/. Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline cost Hungary and Slovakia approximately 30% less than alternative crude delivered via the JANAF Adriatic Pipeline, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said upon his arrival at the EU summit.
"As you may know, there is a price difference between the oil you buy on the market elsewhere and the oil that comes via pipeline from Russia through Ukraine to Slovakia and Hungary. And the price difference is said to be 30%. Perhaps that would give you a fairly convincing answer to the question of what the problem is," the Croatian prime minister said.
Plenkovic also claimed that the current volume of non-Russian crude oil arriving in Croatia by sea and then delivered to Hungary and Slovakia via JANAF exceeds the combined refinery capacity of the two countries.
Russian oil has not been delivered through the Druzhba pipeline since January 27. Budapest and Bratislava are convinced that Kiev is blocking transit for political reasons. On February 15, Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to allow Russian crude oil supplies via the Adriatic pipeline.
Hungarian company MOL and its Slovak company Slovnaft filed a series of complaints with the European Commission against JANAF, the Croatian operator of the Adriatic pipeline, which has so far refused to allow the transit of Russian oil through it. JANAF later announced that it would continue supplying crude to Hungary and Slovakia "in accordance with EU rules."