Naftogaz’s JSC Ukrtransnafta pipeline operator said it resumed operations after receiving payment from Hungarian oil company MOL on Wednesday evening.
Ukraine halted Russian oil shipments via Druzhba on August 4 after Western sanctions prevented it from receiving transit fees from Moscow.
The suspension of pipeline flows on Tuesday affected Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as all are heavily dependent on Russian crude and have limited capacity to import alternative supply by sea.
The pipeline operator said it had received no funds from PJSC Transneft, a state-controlled pipeline company headquartered in Moscow. MOL, the Hungarian oil company, being the main consumer of oil transported by the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, has taken the initiative to pay the transit costs for the transport of Russian oil.
Ukrtransnafta also stated that it has not received any data on the payment of transit fees from the Czech Republic so far, nor any official letter from Transneft informing that MERO, the company operating the section of the pipeline Druzhba in the Czech Republic would pay transit costs for oil flows to that country.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Czech pipeline operator MERO, Jaroslav Pantucek, said on Thursday that oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline to the Czech Republic are expected to resume within two days as fee payment issues continue. of transit being resolved.