Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has announced that it will ensure the country and the region’s energy supply after power to the Druzhba pipeline which delivers Russian crude to Europe was cut following a missile strike.
The Druzhba pipeline was shut down after a transformer supplying power to it was hit by a missile, public current affairs channel M1 reported on Tuesday evening. M1 said Russian forces were carrying out massive air strikes on Ukraine, mainly targeting transmission stations. According to MTI, MOL’s operational and Hungary’s strategic oil reserves are sufficient to keep the main refinery in Százhalombatta running until the damage is repaired. MOL cited Ukraine’s pipeline operator as saying that a transformer powering a Druzhba pump station had been hit by a Russian missile strike, temporarily interrupting crude deliveries to Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia. “We are monitoring developments and examining the conditions for restarting the Druzhba pipeline together with our Ukrainian partners,” MOL said. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has convened a meeting of the Defence Council over the matter as well as a missile hitting Poland, Bertalan Havasi, the prime minister’s press chief, said.