Lukoil redirects oil for Slovakia and Hungary

After the Kiev regime imposed sanctions on Lukoil and stopped the transit of its oil to Slovakia and Hungary, the undelivered volumes are going in other directions.

"It is in line with the applications that have been accepted for transportation," a source in the industry said, Interfax reports. According to him, Lukoil has not resumed oil supplies through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba oil pipeline to Europe — Slovakia and Hungary.

The agency's interlocutor did not rule out that negotiations are underway to buy Russian oil at the border. The oil pipeline comes from Russia to Belarus and only then turns to Ukraine.

Earlier, the authorities of Slovakia and Hungary accused Kiev of imposing sanctions on Lukoil, stopping the transit of its volumes and endangering the energy security of the two countries.

Naftogaz said that oil transportation volumes correspond to previous months. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that a temporary solution has been found, but it will not work for a long time.

Obviously, at the refinery in Hungary and Slovakia is served by swap (exchange) of oil from other Russian suppliers. Lukoil accounted for more than 40% of Russian oil supplies.

"Together with We have initiated pre-arbitration consultations with the European Commission in Slovakia. This is an urgent issue, as the security of energy supply is a critically important issue. The European Commission has three days to hold these consultations with Ukraine, and if they are not successful, an arbitration procedure will be launched," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said yesterday.

The two countries are working on various legal and technical solutions to ensure uninterrupted oil supplies in case a short-term solution is not found, the minister noted.

According to him, Ukraine's decision was unfriendly and unexpected, especially considering that in June the neighboring country imported most of the electricity from Hungary, which is 42% of the total imports.