Crude oil deliveries to Hungary stop due to bombing – UPDATE
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6.45 PM
The Druzhba pipeline has shut down, but deliveries of crude have so far remained uninterrupted, public current affairs channel M1 reported on Tuesday evening.
According to M1’s sources, the pipeline’s power supply system was damaged by a missile strike on the Belarus-Ukraine border, but the pipeline itself remained intact, and crude deliveries stable.
7.35 PM
MOL: Hungary oil reserves sufficient for stable supply
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL on Tuesday said it was prepared to ensure the country and the region’s energy supply after power to the Druzhba pipeline which delivers Russian crude to Europe was cut following a missile strike.
MOL’s operational and Hungary’s strategic oil reserves are sufficient to keep the main refinery in Szazhalombatta running until the damage is repaired, the company told MTI.
MOL cited Ukraine’s pipeline operator as saying that a transformer powering a Druzhba pump station had been hit by a Russian missile strike, temporarily interrupting crude deliveries to Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia. “We are monitoring developments and examining the conditions for restarting the Druzhba pipeline together with our Ukrainian partners,” MOL said.
8.51 PM
The attack damaged the transformer that supplies power to the Friendship oil pipeline, Index.hu reports. MOL confirmed in a statement that the pipeline was down. “As a result of the hit, oil deliveries on the Friendship pipeline to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have been temporarily stopped.”
10.15 PM
Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky urged calm in connection with reports of missiles hitting Poland and the shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline, in an interview with public television on Tuesday.
Speaking to current affairs channel M1, Szalay-Bobrovniczky said the meeting of the Defence Council convened by the prime minister earlier in the evening had focused on the missile strike that has caused power to be cut to the Druzhba pipeline, which delivers Russian crude to Europe as well as the missile strike on Polish territory.