Russia's Druzhba oil pipeline to partially restore flows after drone attack

Russia plans to resume some crude oil deliveries to Central Europe after days of repair work on a damaged pumping station in its Druzhba pipeline system, Hungary's foreign minister said Aug. 27.

In a statement on X, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Russian authorities had found a "temporary solution" that would allow oil flows to resume on Aug. 28, albeit in "test mode" and in lower volumes.

Over the last two weeks, repeated Ukrainian attacks on a pumping station in Unecha, southern Russia, have halted flows through the southern branch of the pipeline and triggered alarm among its recipients in Hungary and Slovakia.

The third and most recent attack, occurring late Aug. 21, targeted the pipeline infrastructure with both drones and rockets, Szijjarto said previously, calling it a significant escalation in Ukraine's military strategy.

"We call on Ukraine to stop attacking the pipeline to Hungary and endangering our energy security," he said, criticizing the European Commission for denying his claims that the incidents present Hungary and Slovakia with critical energy supply risks.

However, he assured that Hungary's commercial oil inventories are enough to meet its domestic demand without requiring a draw on its strategic oil reserves. According to the International Energy Agency's mandate for its member states, the country has over three months of its net import demand for crude and oil products held in public reserves.

Hungary and Slovakia have been key beneficiaries of EU sanctions design that exempted Russian oil pipeline deliveries from a blanket crude import ban in December 2022, making the two countries some of the last in Europe to still rely on its supply.

Hungarian energy company MOL is the sole refiner operating in the two landlocked countries, managing some 290,000 b/d of processing capacity between its Danube and Bratislava facilities. It has been working on its capacity to diversify its crude sources for the two refineries, but will only be capable of running independently of Russian crude after 2026, the company has said.

In 2025, MOL contracted 2.1 million mt of oil (around 42,000 b/d) for delivery to the two refineries through the alternative Adria pipeline, which connects to the Croatian port of Omisalj, according to pipeline operator Janaf, equating to around 14% of its inland capacity.

Slovakian export risk

Details remain scarce over how quickly flows through the Druzhba system can be restored to full volume. However, if capacity remains low or the network is hit again, both countries could be forced to reassess their local supply balances.

In an interview with Hungarian news outlet Maninder, MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi warned that if the pipeline is not restarted by Sept. 1, the company would be forced to draw on strategic oil reserves, a move that would legally oblige it to halt its diesel exports to Ukraine.

"Currently 1/7th of Ukrainian diesel demand is met from our Slovakian refinery [...] This is not a threat, this is a fact," he said.

Before the Druzhba pipeline capacity was hit, Hungary's Danube refinery was operating at only half capacity due to an ongoing turnaround, also leaving the country dependent on Bratislava for a fifth of its fuel supply, he said.