OREANDA-NEWS In early September, Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba oil pipeline passing through Ukraine increased sharply. This is reported by Bloomberg with reference to a source familiar with the statistics.

The average daily transit in the period from September 1 to 4 amounted to 18.3 thousand tons, which is 17 percent higher than in August. Of these, 9.3 thousand tons per day go to Hungary, although in August supplies amounted to 5.5 thousand tons per day.

However, the agency's interlocutor did not rule out that the increase would allow these European countries to receive the bulk of supplies requested for a month in early September, and then transit would decrease again.

Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia were under threat after Ukraine tightened sanctions against the Russian company Lukoil, which traditionally accounted for more than half of the volumes. Tatneft and Russneft were able to partially compensate for the volumes.

Nevertheless, the parties differed in their estimates of substitution. The Ukrainian authorities claimed that transit had decreased slightly, while Hungary and Slovakia reported serious problems and only a temporary solution. Bloomberg, citing its own calculations, noted that after the imposition of sanctions, the average daily volume of deliveries almost did not change, however, Viktor Katona from Kpler stressed that significantly fewer ordered volumes were delivered.

Hungary and Slovakia are negotiating with Ukraine to resolve the situation. One of the options is considered to be taking on the risks of supplies from the Russian-Ukrainian border by the Hungarian concern MOL.