Hungary's Magyar: oil flows via Druzhba pipeline could resume next week (updated)

MOL Magyar Olaj es Gazipari Nyrt

17/04/2026 13:50

Adds quotes, details throughout

BUDAPEST, April 17 (Reuters) - Hungary's election winner Peter Magyar said on Friday that Russian oil flows along the Druzhba pipeline via Ukraine could resume next week.

Hungary's outgoing government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Slovakia have been in dispute with Ukraine over the suspension of Russian oil supplies through Druzhba after an outage on the line that Kyiv says was caused by a Russian attack in late January.

 Ukraine has said repairs take time, while the Hungarian and Slovak governments have accused Kyiv of dragging its feet. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week that Druzhba
would be operational
 by the end of the month.

 Magyar, whose centre-right Tisza party won a large majority in an April 12 election, ending Orban's 16-year rule, said Hungarian oil and gas group MOL's MOLB.BU CEO Zsolt Hernadi had told him that "based on information from their partners they expect the Druzhba oil pipeline to restart next week".

RUSSIAN OIL SUPPLIES

Magyar, who aims to take office by May 9 or 10, said Hernadi would also travel to Russia to talk about supplies.

 "They will talk about several things and they will definitely talk about the fact that it is not enough to restart the pipeline as it also needs oil," Magyar said.

 "They will need to discuss whether Hungary can expect seamless oil supply despite current events."

 Oil prices have soared since U.S. and Israeli
strikes on Iran
 at the end of February sparked conflict in the Middle East and hit global markets.

 MOL and its Slovak refinery Slovnaft have had to rely more on supplies
via the Adriatic pipeline
 from Croatia without Druzhba.

 Hungary and Slovakia have remained reliant on Russian oil supplies despite EU efforts to phase out energy imports from Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs
Editing by Gareth Jones)

((jason.hovet@thomsonreuters.com;))