Head of Hungary's MOL sees no reason to wean off Russian oil
BUDAPEST, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The head of Hungarian oil and gas giant MOL has said he sees no advantage in Hungary weaning itself off Russian oil supplies, and dismissed warnings of fuel shortages in the country as "politics".
Following Russia's 2022 invasion, the EU prohibited oil imports to its member states, but gave an exemption to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to allow them to find alternative routes and supplies. Many critics say Hungary has not done enough to achieve that.
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"Why should we wean ourselves off Russian oil, exactly?" Zsolt Hernadi, CEO of MOL group asked the audience during a panel talk last Friday in northern-Hungarian city of Esztergom, according to a recording heard by Reuters.
The refineries in landlocked Hungary and Slovakia are fed with Russian crude via the Druzhba pipeline's southern spur, but supplies from Russia's biggest oil exporter Lukoil LKOH.MM through Ukraine were halted in July following a ban by Ukrainian authorities.
The European Union then suggested Hungary and Slovakia use spare capacity on the JANAF Adriatic pipeline in Croatia to supply both countries with non-Russian seaborne crude.
But both Hungary and Slovakia last week pushed back, saying Croatia had failed to invest in capacity building and questioned the published maximum capacity of the pipeline. Croatia dismissed as "deeply offensive" the suggestion it was not a reliable supplier.
"It isn't politicians but the management of MOL that decides where to buy oil from," Hernadi said.
"If we decided to halt (Russian oil) supply from Druzhba... Hungary would be left with only one route of supply (Adria pipeline). What's better? Two or one? Which gives more security (of supply)?"
Hungary receives 2 million metric tons of oil from the Russian group annually, around a third of its total oil imports.
Slovakia's Slovnaft refinery, which is owned by Hungarian oil and gas group MOL, was expected to receive 40% less oil for processing than needed, the Slovakian government said earlier in July.
When asked about the possibility of fuel shortages by September if the issue is not resolved, he dismissed it as "politics", and assured the audience that "until they (MOL) don't ring the bells there is nothing to worry about."
(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Conor Humphries)