Oil Transit Resumes via Druzhba Pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary

Oil has resumed flowing through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia after a three-month shutdown, the CTK news agency reported, citing Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova.

Oil began arriving in the country on April 23 after 2:00 a.m. local time (3:00 a.m. Moscow time, or 12:00 a.m. GMT). Slovakia is receiving crude oil in line with a plan agreed with Kiev, Sakova said.

Belarus’s state-owned concern Belneftekhim confirmed the information about the start of oil transit through the republic’s territory in the direction of Hungary and Slovakia, BelTA news agency reported on April 22. Ukraine resumed transit of Russian oil to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline on April 21, Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka said.

On April 21, Vladimir Zelensky said that repairs to the allegedly damaged section of the Druzhba oil pipeline had been completed and oil pumping could resume.

Regarding the political context, Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs Janos Boka stated that oil supplies would not have resumed if Hungary had not blocked the EU’s 90 billion euro credit line for Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted the efforts of Hungarian and Slovak Prime Ministers Viktor Orban and Robert Fico in pressuring the European Commission to verify the status of the pipeline.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak emphasized that the Druzhba pipeline remains the most efficient infrastructure for energy supplies to Europe. Russian oil supplies via the pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia were halted on January 27. Kiev had claimed that a facility connected to the pipeline was damaged during military operations, necessitating a total stop. Hungary and Slovakia maintained that the repairs were completed long ago and that Ukraine was blocking supplies for political reasons. Ukrainian authorities did not allow EU specialists to inspect the pipeline.

In response, Hungary blocked the EU’s 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine, stating that "as long as there is no oil, there will be no money." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sibiga later acknowledged that the main obstacle to resuming the pipeline was Budapest’s blocking of the European funding. Due to the suspension, the Hungarian government was forced to provide MOL with raw materials from state strategic reserves. Hungary receives more than 80% of the oil it consumes via the Druzhba pipeline.