MOL resumes receiving oil from Druzhba after three months, with flows also reaching Slovakia

Hungarian petrochemical group MOL has started receiving oil again via the Druzhba pipeline, after deliveries were interrupted for almost three months. The company announced this today on its website. Oil also began flowing through the pipeline to Slovakia shortly after midnight.

The pipeline had been shut down since the end of January. According to the Ukrainian side, it was damaged in a Russian attack. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Slovak government accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying repairs for political reasons, a claim Kyiv denied. According to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the pipeline had not even been damaged.

"Today, the MOL Group received oil at the Fényeslitke and Budkovce pumping stations. Oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia have thus resumed after a break of almost three months," MOL said.

Hungary blocked the release of a €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine (CZK 2.2 trillion) over the disruption to supplies. Slovakia made its approval of the next package of EU sanctions against Russia for its ongoing military aggression in Ukraine conditional on the Druzhba pipeline being brought back into operation.

On Wednesday, when according to Bratislava the pipeline began to be refilled on the Ukrainian side, Slovakia and Hungary lifted their block on the EU decisions in question. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had earlier announced that repairs to the pipeline had been completed.