Hungary, Serbia Form Joint Plan to Build Russian Oil Pipeline to Belgrade

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban looks on during the EU-Western Balkans leaders' meeting in Brussels on June 23, 2022. (Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images)

The governments of Hungary and Serbia have agreed to invest in a pipeline to allow oil to flow to Serbia from the Russian Urals through the Druzhba pipeline.

Oil shipments via Croatia were hit under the new energy sanctions on Russian by the European Union, according to the government in Budapest on Oct. 10.

The EU slapped new restrictions against Moscow over the ongoing war in Ukraine, which includes an oil price cap for crude deliveries via sea from Russia to third countries.

Serbia gets most of its Russian oil supplies from the JANAF oil pipeline, which passes through Croatia.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “have agreed to build an oil pipeline to Hungary,” said Hungarian Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations spokesman Zoltan Kovacs in a statement.

“The new oil pipeline would enable Serbia to be supplied with cheaper Urals crude oil, connecting to the Friendship oil pipeline,” he noted.

Kovacs said the Serbia’s oil supply at the present “is largely via a pipeline through Croatia, but this is unlikely to be possible in the future because of the sanctions that have been adopted.”

Hungary is also receiving oil from the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, which is delivered to the Czech Republic and Slovakia through Ukraine as well.

The Central European nation, which is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, has been the most vocal critic of sanctions against Russia in the bloc.

The oil pipeline has been the primary source of crude for the three countries’ refineries for years.

Orban has complained that the sanctions would drive up energy prices, but his government voted in favor of last week’s sanctions package.

He recently announced that Hungary would hold a national poll on the sanctions on Russia.

The Hungarian Prime Minister said that his country is holding gas reserves worth about five to six months of consumption.

He said earlier this month, that his government would help out Serbia with gas if needed.

NIS, Serbia’s state oil company, has Russia’s Gazprom Neft and Gazprom as majority stake holders.

The EU and the United States is taking issue with the Serbian government, after it signed an agreement with Russia that it would hold long-term “consultations” on foreign policy matters.

Meanwhile, Serbia has been attempting to join the 27 member European bloc.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Berlin on Oct. 10 to discuss the Ukrainian crisis.

Orbán later spoke at an economic forum held by the Eastern Committee of German business, an organization that focuses on boosting Germany’s economic links with Eastern and Central Europe.

The Prime Minister of Hungary will attend a discussion regarding the war in Ukraine and the current energy crisis in Europe, hosted by Cicero magazine on Oct. 11.