Oil supplies to Hungary cut off after Russia-Belarus dispute

The supply of oil from Russia to Hungary dried up yesterday when Russia halted supplies via the Friendship pipeline to Belarus. Other countries dependent on the pipeline, such as Poland, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, were also affected.

Economy Minister János Kóka assured Hungarians yesterday afternoon that the supply within Hungary will not be affected and that prices will not go up. MOL's technical reserves can cover one or two days' supply, and the company's strategic reserves are sufficient for about 100 days. If necessary, the reserves of power plants may be drawn on, Kóka said. As a fourth option, Russian oil could be imported via the Croatian pipeline from the Adriatic. An agreement for supply via tanker ships could be reached within ten days, Kóka said. He stressed that natural gas reserves are at normal levels.

The stoppage will not influence MOL's prices, as they are fixed to the Mediterranean and Rotterdam markets, chairman Zsolt Hernádi announced at the same press conference. To prove this, MOL will cut prices on Wednesday, in line with earlier plans.

Russia shut off oil shipments via Belarus after the latter country began siphoning off oil as an in-kind payment of a new tariff it has levied as a transit fee in response to Russia's decision to impose duties on crude oil shipped to Belarus and to double the fee it charges Belarus for natural gas.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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