MOSCOW, Oct. 13Hungary does not intend to reduce the volume of oil purchases from Russia even due to Kiev’s increase in fees for oil transit through Ukraine, said the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó.
«We have no such intentions. We always advocate diversification (of oil sources — ed.), but we need a solid base, and we can only get it from Russia. This, again, is a physical fact,» he said Szijjártto to journalists on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week forum in response to a question about the possibility of reducing the volume of supplies from Russia due to Kiev’s decision to raise fees for oil transit through the territory of Ukraine.
According to Szijjártó, in 2023, Hungary intends to receive about four million tons from Russia via the Druzhba oil pipeline.
In 2023, the tariff for oil transit through the section of the Druzhba oil pipeline passing through Ukraine was increased three times. In January it increased from 11.5 euros per ton to 13.6 euros, in June it was further increased from 13.6 to 17 euros, and from August 1 it is 21 euros per ton.
Ukrtransnafta previously argued the need tariff growth, problems associated with damage to the energy infrastructure of Ukraine, as well as increased costs for organizing working conditions and protecting facilities. At the same time, oil pumping stations (OPS) of the Druzhba oil pipeline are regularly subjected to attacks and shelling on Russian territory; there have been no reports of destruction of oil pumping stations in Ukraine. At the same time, calculations show that the specific tariff for pumping oil in Ukraine is $3.27 per tonne-kilometer, and in Russia — $0.75.
Russian Energy Week takes place in Moscow from October 11 to 13. acts as an information partner of the forum.