Update: Slovakia, Hungary rebuff EU call to replace lost Russian oil via Croatia
Slovakia and Hungary on Friday rebuffed a European Commission (EU) suggestion that they could replace lost Russian oil supplies via an alternative route through Croatia, saying it was too costly.
Supplies from Russia's biggest oil exporter Lukoil through Ukraine were halted in July following a ban by Ukrainian authorities on Lukoil using the Druzhba pipeline, which links Russia to eastern Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia earlier this month asked the European Commission to step in and mediate as this threatened their security of supply. But they are rejecting the European Commission's proposal to use spare capacity on the JANAF Adriatic pipeline in Croatia to supply both countries with oil not sourced in Russia.
"Croatia is simply not a reliable country for transit," Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said. "Oil transit prices were raised fivefold by Croatia since the outbreak of the (Ukraine) war."
Slovakia, whose Hungarian-owned Slovnaft refinery already takes some oil via JANAF, also known as Adria, said on Friday it received a letter from the Croatian government offering to secure supplies.
"But for what price? What capacity? No one knows that today," Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said in a statement.
Slovakia wants the Commission to get Ukraine to fully reinstate flows from Russia, but he said it will also search for another solution in case the Commission does not act.
Following Russia's 2022 invasion, the EU prohibited oil imports to its member states in an attempt to wean itself off from Russian fossil fuels, but gave an exemption to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to find alternative routes and supplies.
Flows from Russian suppliers other than Lukoil via Druzhba have continued.
EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Friday said Ukraine had confirmed that Lukoil oil flowing through Ukraine was at that point of its journey already owned by other entities and thus sanctions do not apply to it, raising questions about the cause of the interruption to the flow.
Despite drawn-out talks over transit fees, Croatia's JANAF and Hungary's MOL managed to sign a one-year contract in May 2023, on a transport and storage deal for 2.9 metric MMt of crude on the Adriatic pipeline to MOL's Hungarian and Slovak refineries.
Hungary on Friday also complained that Croatia has failed to invest in capacity building, and has never proved the figure it has given for the maximum transit capacity of its pipeline.
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