Hungary’s statement about Croatia being “unreliable” for oil transit outraged Zagreb

The Hungarian Foreign Minister’s statement that Croatia is an unreliable country for oil transit has sparked outrage in Zagreb. This was reported by Euractiv.

The European Commission has proposed that Hungary and Slovakia use the free capacity of the Adriatic JANAF pipeline in Croatia to supply oil to both countries that does not originate from Russia.

However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto rejected the proposal, saying that “Croatia is simply not a reliable country for transit.”

“This is a politically deeply offensive statement that we did not expect to hear from a representative of a country whose unfriendly steps we have long reacted to with extreme restraint and moderation,” said Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman.

Slovakia, whose Hungarian refinery Slovnaft already receives some oil through JANAF, said on Friday that it had received a letter from the Croatian government offering to secure supplies.

“But at what cost? In what volume? Nobody knows this today,” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar said.

Slovakia, like Hungary, wants the European Commission to force Ukraine to fully resume oil flows from Russia, but, according to Blanar, it will also look for another solution if the European Commission does not act.

Despite protracted negotiations over transit tariffs, Croatia’s JANAF and Hungary’s MOL managed to sign a one-year contract in May 2023 to transport and store 2.9 million tons of oil through the Adriatic Pipeline to MOL’s Hungarian and Slovak refineries.

On Friday, Hungary also complained that Croatia has not invested in capacity expansion and has never confirmed the figure it gave for its pipeline’s maximum transit capacity.

“Besides the fact that the two letters confirm that this is a coordinated action from Brussels, there is also another big problem with the “Croatian option”. Croatia is simply not a reliable transit country. It is not reliable, because the transit fee of oil has been raised five times the average market values since the outbreak of the war. It is unreliable, because they have made it impossible for MOL to reduce shipping capacities for a long term,” Szijjarto wrote on his social account.

In a statement, JANAF rejected the allegations, saying that it is continuously investing in its transportation and storage system.

The company said that together with MOL it had tested its transportation capacity on the section towards Hungary and proved that it could transport 1.2 million tons of crude oil per month.

“The information that JANAF has been raising its tariffs over the past three years is completely untrue,” the company said. It also rejected Hungary’s accusations.

The day before, the European Commission said that it was still investigating the situation with oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia after Ukraine stopped the transit of Russian Lukoil oil, but at this stage it did not see any impact of this decision on oil supplies. 

Hungary and Slovakia argue that Ukraine’s decision jeopardizes their energy security and have initiated discussions with the European Commission.