Bulgaria offers to help Hungary manage difficulties caused by Ukraine oil transit ban

Bulgaria has offered to help Hungary manage the difficulties that have arisen after Ukraine’s ban on the transit of oil from Russia’s Lukoil, Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in Bucharest on Wednesday.

Speaking after talks with Vladimir Malinov, Bulgaria’s minister for energy affairs, Szijjártó said they had reviewed the situation that had arisen due to Ukraine’s “unacceptable” move to render Lukoil’s crude oil transits to Hungary and Slovakia impossible.

“Ukraine thwarted us, but we can count on Bulgaria”, Szijjártó wrote on Facebook:

“Not only are they endangering Hungary’s and Slovakia’s energy security by doing this, but they are also violating the association agreement between the European Union and Ukraine,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, he said the EU’s Trade Policy Committee set to discuss the issue had convened in Brussels on Wednesday.

“It’s clear that certain EU member states continue to represent a political stance, and despite the fact that the step taken by Ukraine obviously violates the security of Hungary and Slovakia’s energy supply as well as the EU-Ukraine association agreement, they’re trying to defend Ukraine and clearly don’t care about the European Union’s internal solidarity,” Szijjártó said.

“We’ll see when the European Commission formulates its position and convenes the consultation between the European Union and Ukraine, which we expect to result in Ukraine lifting the ban on Lukoil oil transits,” he added.

Szijjártó noted that a significant share of Hungary’s natural gas supply was delivered via Bulgaria, and that the country was among the most reliable in the region.

Hungary received 5.6 billion cubic metres of natural gas through Bulgaria last year and 3.9 billion so far this year, he said.

“Bulgaria respects all of its obligations as a transit country,” he said.

Szijjártó said his Bulgarian partner had offered to help Hungary in connection with the situation that has arisen after the Ukrainian ban.

“Though there’s no direct crude oil delivery link, i.e. pipeline between the two countries, he did say that if we needed further volumes of oil, they are capable of getting it to Hungary,” Szijjártó said. “Offering this kind of help is another nice and friendly gesture from Bulgaria.”

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