As of: 08/10/2022 9:41 p.m
Slovakia gets Russian oil again through the Druzhba pipeline. EU sanctions against Russia had apparently prevented the payment of fees. The Czech Republic and Hungary are still waiting for deliveries to resume.
According to Slovak information, Russian oil is once again flowing through the Ukraine to Europe through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline. “Crude oil is already arriving in Slovakia again via the Druzhba pipeline,” a spokesman for the Slovakian oil company Slovnaft told the AFP news agency. “And in Hungary, supplies are expected to resume tomorrow.”
Slovak Economy Minister Richard Sulik also stated that oil supplies from Russia through the pipeline had resumed. “The oil is already on Slovak territory,” Sulik wrote on Facebook. The costs would have been between nine and ten million euros.
According to the information, Slovnaft and the Hungarian parent company MOL had offered to take over the transit fees for the pipeline section through Ukraine. Both the Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed, the Slovnat spokesman said. The MOL Group stated that it had transferred the transit fees for August.
Delivery stop to Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia
Sulik said his country will work on a long-term solution to the transit problem. It was caused by an unnamed bank in western Europe refusing to transfer fee payments because of sanctions against Russia. “I wouldn’t look for a political context behind it, there isn’t one,” says Sulik.
The Russian company that operates the pipeline, Transneft, had previously cut off the flow of oil through Ukraine. Deliveries were halted after a bank transaction was rejected due to Western sanctions against Russia, the Russian state-owned company said.
Mainly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic are supplied via the southern line through the Ukraine. All three states were affected by the delivery failures. The northern section of the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus to Poland and Germany, was unaffected, according to Transneft.
“Technical problems at bank level”
The Slovnaft spokesman cited “technical problems at the bank level in connection with the payment of transit fees by the Russian side” as the reason for the transaction delay. The agreement reached therefore affects deliveries to Slovakia and Hungary, but not to the Czech Republic. According to the operator of the Czech part of the pipeline, MERO, deliveries have not yet resumed there.
Czech Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela said his country had joined forces with Polish authorities to explore ways to resume oil supplies. Two Czech refineries processing Russian oil are owned by Polish oil and energy giant PKN Orlen.
Oil embargo against Russia
In April, the EU countries agreed on a gradual oil embargo against Russia. The embargo covers Russian oil shipments by sea, but initially allowed continued shipments via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and certain other European countries without access to the sea, such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
With reference to their heavy dependence on Russian supplies, the states had pushed through an extensive exception to supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Slovakia, for example, covers almost all of its oil requirements via the Druzhba pipeline.