Hungary and Serbia plan to sign an agreement in June on the construction of an oil pipeline through which Russian oil from the Druzhba pipeline will be transited through Hungarian territory to Serbian consumers. According to TASS, this was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, after talks in Budapest with the Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia, Dubravka Negre.
According to him, the oil pipeline will be laid between the Hungarian city of Aldio and Serbian Novi Sad. “Negotiations between MOL and Transnafta on this project are ongoing. An agreement on this can be signed at the Serbian-Hungarian summit scheduled for June,” Szijjarto said, speaking at a joint press conference with his Serbian counterpart.
Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline are not subject to EU sanctions.
Earlier, Szijjarto reported that the length of the oil pipeline from Aldio to Novi Sad will be 128 km, and the cost of its construction will be about 100 million euros. For its construction, the corridor of the gas pipeline from Serbia to Hungary, which is part of the onshore continuation of the second string of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, can be used, which will reduce the project implementation time. According to forecasts, the construction of an oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia will take from one and a half to two years.
The state-owned companies of Hungary and Serbia will set up a joint venture to purchase gas from the European market, Szijjarto said.
“The Hungarian MVM and Serbiagas will soon establish a joint venture to carry out joint activities in the field of gas trade, which will strengthen the presence of the two countries in the energy market of Central Europe,” the Foreign Minister said. He also noted that a framework agreement has been reached on the content this year of 500 million cubic meters of natural gas for Serbia in storage facilities in Hungary.
In addition, construction continues on a new transmission line between the two countries, which should be operational by 2028. “This will strengthen our independence from the sometimes completely insane changes in the international electricity market,” Szijjártó said.
“Close Serbian-Hungarian energy cooperation provides greater security for both sides. This is one of the most successful areas of our strategic partnership, which, undoubtedly, has already brought many important results,” the minister concluded.
Source: Rosbalt
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