Hungary says Croatia ‘Unreliable’ for Oil Transit

Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto accused Croatia of being an unreliable partner for oil transits, after the EC recommended that the landlocked country import oil via the Balkan nation, Reuters said.

• Szijjarto said Croatia had raised transit fees fivefold since the war began and had not invested in capacity building.
• Hungary and Slovakia are concerned about their oil supplies due to the halting of flows from Russia’s Lukoil via the Druzhba pipeline.
• This is due to Ukrainian sanctions on Lukoil which stopped it using Druzhba.
• Consequently, the EC recommended using spare capacity on the JANAF Adriatic pipeline in Croatia, which it said was sufficient to supply both countries.
• Seaborne imports of Russian oil are banned in the EU, but pipeline imports via Druzhba are exempt.
• However, redirecting Hungarian and Slovak imports away from Russian cargoes remains an ambition for EU leaders as it looks to remove dependencies on the Kremlin.