Export Russian oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which passes through Ukraine to Hungary, Slovakia as well as Czech Republic, have been suspended since last week due to obstacles in the payment of transit fees. In her statement Transneftthe operating company of the gas pipeline, explains that on July 28, the payment for the rights to transit through Ukraine was canceled due to sanctions against Moscow.

This was reported by the representative of Transneft Igor Demin of the Russian RIA Novosti network, stressing that “Gazprombank, which makes payments, informed us that the payment, although it had been paid since July 22, was canceled a few days later. later because it was put into effect by the seventh EU sanctions package against Russia.”

Prices for “black gold” are rising – Difficult situation for Hungarian refineries.

He also stressed that the northern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline was not affected and the transit of oil through Belarus to Poland and Germany continues as usual. However, oil prices rallied to the news, with West Texas crude up 1.21% to $91.86 a barrel. Earlier, it fell to $90 per barrel amid expectations of a deal between Tehran and Western countries that would effectively restore the previous agreement on Iran’s nuclear program and return Persian oil to the world market. As for the Brent brand, it also rose by 1.28% to $97.89 per barrel. Oil exports via the Druzhba pipeline are exempt from the gradual EU embargo on Russian oil. in June with the aim of completely stopping the import of Russian oil within six months. The exemption for the pipeline was granted after intense pressure from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose country meets 65% of its oil needs by importing Russian oil. Thus, Hungary is expected to face a particular challenge now, and already the Budapest refinery Mol Nyrt has announced that it has already begun contacts with the aim of resuming the flow of oil, and in order to achieve this, it intends to pay transit fees to Ukraine itself. In a related statement, the said refinery also emphasizes that “it has several weeks of inventory, but is looking for a solution to the problem.”

The contract between Transneft and Ukrtransnafta, which manages the section of the gas pipeline passing through the territory of Ukraine, provides for a 100% prepayment of the cost of transit. According to Bloomberg, at best, the problem with payments will be resolved within a few days. But, as Tamas Pletcher, an analyst at Erste Bank, points out, if oil supplies are not restored for a long time, the Hungarian Mol refinery will be able to operate for another two weeks, and then the country will have to mobilize its strategic reserves.