Article content
(Bloomberg) — Hungary and Russia are working to resume oil flows after they were halted due to alleged legal problems in Ukraine, according to Hungary’s top diplomat.
Mol Nyrt., the Hungarian energy company, and Lukoil PJSC, the Russian oil firm, are working on finding a solution, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said late Tuesday following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York.
“There’s now a legal situation in Ukraine based on which Lukoil is not currently delivering to Hungary,” Szijjarto said, without going into detail about what led to a stoppage. “Now we’re working on a legal solution.”
Article content
Hungary’s foreign ministry, Mol and Ukraine’s state-run energy company Naftogaz JSC didn’t immediately reply to Bloomberg requests for comment.
Russia supplies crude to Hungary via the southern leg of Druzhba pipeline running through Ukraine. Last year, Russian crude flows to Hungary fell 2% from almost 5 million tons in 2022.
Hungary has intensified energy ties with Russia even after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, signing several deals to boost natural gas deliveries after Prime Minister Viktor Orban secured an exemption from European Union energy sanctions.
The government in Budapest has clawed back almost the entire resulting windfall for Mol with a special tax aimed at plugging its budget shortfall.
Szijjarto’s meeting with Lavrov followed Orban’s visit to Moscow earlier this month, where the Hungarian leader sought to engage Russian President Vladimir Putin on how to end the war in Ukraine.
EU partners rebuked Orban for using Hungary’s rotating presidency of the bloc for diplomatic freelancing that didn’t have the backing of the other 26 member states.
—With assistance from Kateryna Chursina and Marton Kasnyik.
Share this article in your social network
Source link
