Ukrainian Drone Strike Disrupts Oil Transport to Hungary

Construction of the Friendship II oil pipeline in 1972

Due to a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, oil transport to Hungary on the Friendship pipeline had to be suspended. The repair work is already underway, transit could resume later today, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday. Pavel Sorokin, Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation, later informed Minister Szijjártó that the Russian system operator had repaired the damage and oil transport to Hungary on the Friendship pipeline had resumed.

The Minister said that the war in Ukraine is becoming more and more serious, as a drone attack on a measuring station of the Friendship pipeline forced the temporary suspension of the delivery.

Fact

The Friendship pipeline transports oil from eastern Russia to Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. Its branch to Hungary also supplies Slovakia, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany. The total annual nominal capacity of the pipelines to Hungary is up to 13 million tonnes, but the actual capacity is 8 million tonnes. If anything happens to the pipeline, the reserves should allow for at least 3 months of supply, reports Oeconomus.

He had spoken by phone to the Deputy Energy Minister of the Russian Federation, who said that the Ukrainian strike had prevented the delivery of the gas for the time being. He added that repair work are underway and, barring any unforeseen circumstances, transit to Hungary could resume on Tuesday in the late afternoon or early evening.

If the operation of the Friendship oil pipeline fails, the supply of oil to Hungary and Slovakia will become physically impossible in practice,”

he warned. Péter Szijjártó called attacks on the energy infrastructure that supplies Hungary unacceptable. “We have repeatedly made our position clear in Brussels, and the European Commission has given a guarantee that there will be no attacks on the energy infrastructure in Hungary. Unfortunately, this is the umpteenth time that the European Commission’s guarantee has been violated,” he stressed. He added that Ukrainians should not attack Hungarian energy infrastructure.

The minister concluded by saying that Hungary was not to blame for the war and had stayed out of it so far. “Hungary’s energy supply is a matter of sovereignty, and we expect everyone to respect that,” he underlined.

Peace is needed as soon as possible, because the sooner there is peace, the sooner these attacks will stop and the sooner we can make the Hungarian energy infrastructure completely secure,”

said Péter Szijjártó. “Therefore, we hope that President Trump’s peace efforts this week will be successful,” he added.

A few hours later the Minister posted on Facebook that the Russian system operator fixed the damages caused by the Ukrainian drone. He continued saying that oil transport to Hungary can resume on the Friendship pipeline.

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