By Krisztina Than and Jan Lopatka BUDAPEST/PRAGUE, April 22 (Reuters) - Hungary and Slovakia expect deliveries of Russian oil to resume through a pipeline via Ukraine after a halt lasting months,
Druzhba pipeline restarts Russian oil flows to Europe, unblocking EU loan for Kyiv
Resumption of Druzhba Pipeline and Its Political Impact
By Krisztina Than and Julia Payne
BUDAPEST/BRUSSELS, April 22 (Reuters) - Russian oil flowed through the Ukrainian section of the Druzhba pipeline on Wednesday after a halt lasting months, officials said, allowing Hungary to lift its veto on a 90 billion euro ($105.79 billion) EU loan urgently needed by Ukraine.
The Druzhba pipeline has become one of the most politically charged pieces of infrastructure in Europe since a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline in western Ukraine and stopped Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia.
Restart of Oil Deliveries
Hungarian oil group MOL said on Wednesday that Ukraine had informed it that deliveries of Russian crude had resumed through the pipeline.
"MOL expects the first crude oil shipments following the restart of the Ukrainian section of the pipeline system to arrive in Hungary and Slovakia by tomorrow at the latest," it said in a statement.
Kremlin's Response
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news outlet Izvestia that technical details of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline were being discussed at a corporate level.
"MOL is also involved in this matter. Contacts are being maintained through corporate channels. I don’t know the details, because there should have been a request for pumping. ... This is, rather, a corporate matter," Peskov said.
EU Loan Approval Shortly After Pumping Resumed
Pumping began at 0935 GMT, an industry source said, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly.
Shortly afterwards, EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels approved the loan. The European Union's 27 member states are expected to formally sign off on it by Thursday afternoon.
Reaction from Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the EU's decision was "the right signal under the current circumstances". Writing on X, Zelenskiy said that incentives for Russia to end its war in Ukraine "can arise only when both support for Ukraine and pressure on Russia are sufficient".
Background on the Loan Blockage
The EU had agreed in principle to the loan last year to maintain Ukraine's liquidity through 2026 and 2027 but Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Slovak government had blocked it, accusing Ukraine of delaying repairs to the pipeline, which Kyiv denied.
Both Hungary and Slovakia are heavily dependent on Russian oil and Orban has consistently shown support for Russia.
Change of Prime Minister in Hungary
Ukraine's prospects of receiving the loan had already improved when Orban lost Hungary's parliamentary election on April 12. The leader of the winning party, Peter Magyar, said he would no longer block the EU funds for Ukraine, though he is not expected to take power until next month.
Druzhba Pipeline Capacity and Disruptions
The capacity of Druzhba, which in Russian means friendship, is 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels of oil a day, with the possibility of increasing to up to 2 million barrels a day. However, flows fell to a small fraction of that as a result of Western sanctions as well as repeated disruptions from drone attacks.
Impact on Germany and Kazakhstan
Separately, Germany confirmed that no Kazakh crude would reach its PCK Schwedt refinery - one of the country's largest - from May, after industry sources said on Tuesday that Russia was set to stop Kazakhstan's oil exports via the Druzhba pipeline.
($1 = 0.8511 euros)
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Anna Pruchnicka, Krisztina Than, Jan Lopatka, Julia Payne, Bart Meijer, Lili Bayer; Writing by Jan Strupczewski and Ingrid Melander;Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Barbara Lewis, Kirsten Donovan, Will Dunham and Ron Popeski)
