Slovakia’s government has declared an “oil-sector emergency” following the suspension of supplies through the Druzhba pipeline.
The announcement was reported Wednesday, February 18, by Slovakia’s state news agency TASR.
Amid fuel import disruptions, the government will release up to 250,000 tons of crude from its emergency reserves to the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava, the country’s largest. In return, the company must provide financial collateral or bank guarantees equal to the oil’s book value. Slovnaft is required to return the crude by September.
Slovnaft says the volume authorized by the government will cover at least one month of operations. During that time, the refinery plans to ramp up use of the Adriatic pipeline (JANAF), which had previously handled only limited deliveries.
Slovnaft is majority-owned by Hungarian oil and gas group MOL and effectively holds a monopoly on gasoline and diesel supplies in Slovakia.
On February 18, Slovnaft also announced it will suspend diesel exports abroad, including to Ukraine, to prioritize domestic supply during a volatile period. The refinery says it needs 7,300–7,500 tons of crude per day to do so. In connection with the export halt, Prime Minister Robert Fico said there would be no shortage of fuel or other petroleum products.
A day earlier, Slovakia and Hungary asked Croatia to facilitate deliveries of Russian crude through the Adriatic pipeline.
In response, Croatian Economy Minister Ante Susnjar said the country is ready to help, but only within European Union and United States rules.
He also noted that JANAF allows European countries to avoid dependence on Russian oil.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has repeatedly complained that JANAF cannot handle the volumes required and that Croatia raised transit fees, making shipments commercially unviable for Hungary.
On February 16, Hungarian company MOL said that deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia have been halted since January 27.
To compensate, MOL has shifted to seaborne crude supplies and asked Hungary’s Energy Ministry to release about 250,000 tons from strategic reserves. On February 12, representatives of Slovakia’s Economy Ministry told Bloomberg that Druzhba supplies had been stopped.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha attributed the halt to Hungary allegedly concealing a Russian strike on a segment of the Druzhba pipeline on Ukrainian territory.
Budapest countered that the Ukrainian side had allegedly cut power to that section of the pipeline. On February 15, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of exports.
In addition, on February 17, UK outlet Sky News reported that the European Commission had asked Ukraine to provide a repair schedule for Druzhba.
