Hungary says Croatia ‘unreliable’ when it comes to oil transit

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BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s foreign minister accused Croatia of being an unreliable partner for the transit of oil on Friday, after the European Commission recommended that the landlocked country import oil via its southern neighbour.

Hungary and Slovakia requested earlier this month that the European Commission step in and mediate after they said a halt in oil supplies by Russia’s biggest oil exporter Lukoil threatened the two countries’ security of supply.

This followed sanctions by Ukrainian authorities that prohibited Lukoil from using the Druzhba pipeline, which links Russia to eastern Europe, to supply its customers.

However, the Commission’s analysis says there is enough spare capacity on the JANAF Adriatic pipeline in Croatia to supply both countries with oil not sourced in Russia.

“Croatia is simply not a reliable country for transit,” Hungary’s Peter Szijjarto said. “Oil transit prices were raised fivefold since the outbreak of the (Ukraine) war by Croatia.”

Despite drawn out talks over transit fees, Janaf, Croatia’s oil pipeline operator and Hungary’s MOL managed to sign a one-year contract in May 2023, on a transport and storage deal for 2.9 million tonnes of crude on the Adriatic pipeline to MOL’s Hungarian and Slovak refineries.

Szijjarto also complained that Croatia has failed to invest in capacity building, and has never proved the figure it has given for the maximum transit capacity of its pipeline.

Croatia’s government press office did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The refineries in landlocked Hungary and Slovakia are fed with Russian crude via the Druzhba pipeline’s southern spur, which has remained functioning through more than two years of war in Ukraine, and with non-Russian sea-borne crude supplies via the Adriatic pipeline, MOL’s main alternative.

The European Union prohibited oil imports to its member states in an attempt to wean itself off from Russian fossil fuels, but gave an exemption to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to find alternative routes and supplies.