Answering questions at a press conference on Friday, Péter Szijjártó said the facilities applied “will not work in the medium term”, adding it was necessary to find a quick solution.

Szijjártó noted that Hungary and Slovakia had been exempted from a European Union sanction banning the use of the Druzhba pipeline which supplies oil from Russia to the region.

“So far … a correct energy cooperation has worked” between Hungary and Ukraine, he said, adding that “Hungary has helped Ukraine many times and in many ways to ensure the security of their energy supplies.”

“Reports about Ukraine changing their regulations under which shipments by Russia’s Lukoil cannot transit Ukraine to Hungary came out of the blue,” the foreign ministry quoted Szijjártó as saying.

Lukoil supplies one half of the oil imported from the east by pipeline, the statement said, adding that Hungary and Slovakia purchased an annual two million tonnes of crude oil from the Russian company.

“The Ukrainian decision will seriously impact the security of oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia in the long term,” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó: Bulgaria Offers to Help Hungary Manage Difficulties Caused by Ukraine Oil Transit Ban

Bulgaria has offered to help Hungary manage the difficulties that have arisen after Ukraine’s ban on the transit of oil from Russia’s Lukoil, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Bucharest.

Speaking after talks with Vladimir Malinov, Bulgaria’s minister for energy affairs, Szijjártó said they had reviewed the situation that had arisen due to Ukraine’s “unacceptable” move to render Lukoil’s crude oil transits to Hungary and Slovakia impossible.

“Not only are they endangering Hungary’s and Slovakia’s energy security by doing this, but they are also violating the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, he said the EU’s Trade Policy Committee set to discuss the issue had convened in Brussels on Wednesday.

“It’s clear that certain EU member states continue to represent a political stance, and despite the fact that the step taken by Ukraine obviously violates the security of Hungary and Slovakia’s energy supply as well as the EU-Ukraine association agreement, they’re trying to defend Ukraine and clearly don’t care about the European Union’s internal solidarity,” Szijjártó said.

“We’ll see when the European Commission formulates its position and convenes the consultation between the European Union and Ukraine, which we expect to result in Ukraine lifting the ban on Lukoil oil transits,” he added.

Szijjártó noted that a significant share of Hungary’s natural gas supply was delivered via Bulgaria, and that the country was among the most reliable in the region.

Hungary received 5.6 billion cubic metres of natural gas through Bulgaria last year and 3.9 billion so far this year, he said. “Bulgaria respects all of its obligations as a transit country,” he said.

Szijjártó said his Bulgarian partner had offered to help Hungary in connection with the situation that has arisen after the Ukrainian ban.

“Though there’s no direct crude oil delivery link, i.e. pipeline between the two countries, he did say that if we needed further volumes of oil, they are capable of getting it to Hungary,” Szijjártó said.

“Offering this kind of help is another nice and friendly gesture from Bulgaria.”

Szijjártó: EU Foreign Ministers to Discuss Ukraine’s Move to Halt Lukoil Oil Transit

The Hungarian government is in contact with its Slovak counterpart on Ukraine’s stoppage of Russian crude oil transit shipments to the two countries, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said, adding that the matter would be raised at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“We have told Ukraine’s authorities that it has been an incomprehensible, unacceptable and unfriendly decision … they showed some readiness to remedy the situation but those endeavours were somehow interrupted half way,” he said.

“It is strange that a country aspiring to be integrated with the EU is seriously jeopardising the energy supplies of two member states,” he said.

“We are working to come up with a solution though we have not caused the problem; Ukraine should resolve it and I sincerely hope that they will soon do so,” Szijjártó said.

Ukraine Stops Lukoil’s Oil Transfer to Hungary

Ukraine has stopped Lukoil’s Russian oil transfer to Hungary, Hungarian business website Portfolio noticed in an appendix to a Ukrainian presidential decree.

On June 26, before Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Kyiv, Ukraine tightened sanctions against Lukoil. As a result, the Russian company can no longer rent the Ukrainian pipeline network for transit purposes.

Hungarian oil company MOL processes around 70% of the oil arriving from Russia, meaning this could lead to a fuel supply issue in Hungary and countries in the region, Portfolio wrote.

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó recently admitted that MOL is working on the legal solution with Lukoil, which will “allow continuous oil shipments from Russia through Belarus and Ukraine."

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