Minister Warns of Rising Fuel Prices Due to New US Sanctions
January 13, 2025
3,546
The new sanctions package of the outgoing US administration poses serious challenges to Central Europe, and the Hungarian government will therefore closely coordinate with its partners in the region to minimize the increase in fuel prices, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced.
In a statement, the Minister wrote that the outgoing Democrat administration, which “suffered a heavy defeat” in last year’s US presidential election, had introduced new punitive measures in the energy sector, that again poses a serious challenge to Central Europe.
Péter Szijjártó pointed out
the inclusion on the list of a company that plays a key role in Serbia’s oil supply could reduce the amount of crude oil coming into the region, causing a drop in processing here and a much greater need for finished, refined fuel (petrol and diesel).
“If demand increases but processing capacity decreases, that unfortunately means we face a very serious risk of price hikes,” he warned.
“The sanctions that the outgoing US administration has now put in place in the energy sector could lead to a serious fuel price hike in Central Europe,” he added.
Minister Szijjártó noted that
the Hungarian government will therefore be in very close coordination with its partners in the region in order to minimize the negative impact of sanctions on prices and thus “protect the Hungarian and Central European people.”
“Because we know very well that fuel price increases not only have a negative impact on countries by making people’s lives more difficult, more expensive, but also have a negative impact on overall economic performance, and we want to avoid that,” he explained.
Finally, he welcomed the fact that there are only a few days left before “the United States will have a President who sees Hungary not as an enemy but as a friend.”
Fact
The United States imposed a wide range of sanctions on Russian energy exporters on Friday, affecting oil trade. A statement on the White House website, signed by Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Daleep Singh, described the sanctions as “the most significant yet” to affect Russian oil production, distribution networks, including major oil producers and trading companies worldwide. The punitive measures also apply to 150 oil tankers involved in the transport of Russian crude oil.
Reacting to the sanctions, Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić called a press conference on Friday, where Politico reported him as saying that “these are the most severe sanctions ever affecting a company in Serbia.” Namely, the sanctions target Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS), a company majority owned by Russia’s Gazprom and Gazprom Neft.
Related article
Fuel Prices Rise for the Fourth Time This Year
Motorists can see a price difference of more than 50 forints per liter at petrol stations.Continue reading
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.