By Oyintari Ben
The Hungarian Government has declared that Hungary and Serbia have decided to construct a pipeline to provide Serbia with Russian crude oil while European Union restrictions limit supplies via Croatia.
Serbia now imports its oil from Russia through the JANAF oil pipeline that passes through Croatia. In contrast, as part of the sanctions imposed due to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, the EU set an oil price cap for Russian crude shipments by sea to third countries last week.
According to a tweet from the Hungarian government’s spokesman, Zoltan Kovacs, “the new oil pipeline will enable Serbia to be supplied with cheaper Urals crude oil, connecting to the Friendship oil pipeline.”
According to him, the majority of Serbia’s oil supply comes from a pipeline that passes through Croatia, “but due to the sanctions that have been enacted, this is unlikely to be possible in the future.”
Hungary has criticized the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia. The sanctions “failed as governments in Europe are toppling ‘like dominoes,'” according to Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungary delayed adopting a set of EU measures on Russia in June because it disagreed with the sanctions imposed on Patriarch Kirill.
The nation, which depends heavily on Russian oil and gas, claims the actions raised energy costs and sparked an energy crisis in Europe. Budapest, though, supported the sanctions package last week.
Following the signing of an agreement with Russia promising lengthy “consultations” on foreign policy, the EU and the US are now doubting Serbia’s commitment to joining the 27-nation bloc.
The southern branch of the Druzhba, or Friendship, the pipeline passes through Ukraine on its route to Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. For many years, it has served as the main supply for refineries in the three nations.
NIS, the sole oil firm operating in Serbia, is jointly owned by Russian Gazprom Neft and Gazprom.
Hungary also declared that, if necessary, it would assist Serbia with its gas supplies.
According to Orban, Hungary has enough gas reserves to last for five to six months of usage.
