"Friendship" stopped: why Ukraine stopped the transit of oil from Russia to Europe

The supply of Russian oil to Europe through the territory of Ukraine via the Druzhba pipeline has ceased.

This was announced on Tuesday, August 9, by Igor Demin, adviser to the president of Transneft.

Ukrtransnafta completely stopped pumping oil to Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia via the southern branch of Druzhba on August 4 at 06:10.

At the same time, transit through Belarus in the direction of Poland and Germany continues, ”RIA Novosti quotes Demin.

According to him, the Ukrainian company provides services for the transportation of oil from Russia on the terms of 100% prepayment.

Meanwhile, at the end of July, when making a payment for the transit of raw materials in August, the money was returned to the account of Transneft.

Gazprombank, which services payments, notified us that the payment was returned in connection with the entry into the EU regulations, that is, the seventh package of sanctions, ”Dyomin added.

As specified in Transneft, the procedure for controlling cross-border payments from Russia was specified in the new EU regulation.

So, at the moment, European banks can no longer independently decide on the possibility of conducting a particular operation.

Organizations need confirmation that the transaction is not prohibited, and for this it is necessary to obtain permission from the national authorized government agency.

“The situation is complicated by the fact that European regulators have not yet formed a unified position on the algorithm of actions for banks in various jurisdictions, and have not developed a procedure for issuing these permits,” Transneft specified.

The company has already informed the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, Ukrtransnafta and Russian shippers supplying resources in the direction of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia about the current situation.

Transneft also sent an appeal to Gazprombank and is now working on alternative options for making payments for oil supplies through Ukraine.

At the same time, the Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has already initiated negotiations on assuming obligations to pay for transit through the Druzhba, RIA Novosti reports.

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• © Kirill Gorskov / EyeEm

World oil prices reacted with growth to reports about the suspension of transit through the territory of Ukraine.

So, in the middle of the day, raw materials of the reference Brent brand on the ICE exchange in London rose in price by 1.8% to $98.36 per barrel.

According to experts, investors began to fear an increase in the shortage of hydrocarbons in the European energy market.

“In normal mode, Russia supplies about 250 thousand barrels per day through the southern part of Druzhba.

This route accounts for 10% of the total volume of Russian oil imported by the European Union.

Since transit through the northern branch of the pipeline continues to work, in theory it could be used to pump oil to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, but this is quite expensive and inefficient, ”Finam FG analyst Alexander Potavin explained to RT.

"Blame Russia"

The possible blocking of the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine was discussed back in May.

As Elena Zerkal, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, noted at the time, it would be worth taking such a step, since Hungary does not want to refuse to purchase Russian oil.

“Ukraine has an excellent leverage in its hands – this is the Druzhba oil pipeline… It would be very appropriate if something happened to it.

But, again, it is in the hands of the government and the president to resolve political issues,” Zerkal said at the Kiev security forum.

At that moment, the EU countries were actively discussing the possibility of imposing an embargo on Russian oil imports, but Hungary was categorically against and repeatedly blocked the adoption of a new package of sanctions.

According to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, such restrictions against Moscow in the energy sector would be tantamount to an "atomic bomb" for the republic's economy.

As a result, the EU went to meet Budapest and decided to ban only sea supplies of raw materials from Russia, and leave pipeline supplies unchanged.

At the same time, the approved measures should come into force only in December 2022.

“During the discussion of sanctions, the Hungarians behaved harshly, but still defended the right to receive Russian oil.

However, in the European Union, as always, they did everything by half.

The EU authorities allowed Hungary to receive raw materials through Druzhba, but did not lift sanctions on transactions, which Ukraine has now taken advantage of, ”political scientist Andrey Suzdaltsev told RT.

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• © Natacha Pisarenko

As the specialist noted, this is not the first time that Western sanctions have caused interruptions in the supply of Russian energy raw materials to Europe.

So, earlier Moscow was forced to drastically reduce the flow of gas through the Nord Stream pipeline due to problems with the return of the Siemens turbine to Gazprom.

The equipment could not be returned as a result of anti-Russian restrictions in Canada, where the unit was being serviced.

“This is not a sanction confusion, not someone’s absolutely purposeful decision ... The engine is at the factory (in Canada. -

).

The engine cannot be taken from the Siemens factory.

And other engines are suitable and have already come to the point when it is necessary to make major repairs.

And they can't be sent to Canada.

And they can’t be sent to any other plant either, ”the head of Gazprom, Alexei Miller, explained the situation.

Later, Ottawa, at the request of Berlin, eased the restrictions and sent the engine, but the unit "got stuck" during transit through Germany.

Now the parties cannot agree on guarantees and documents for transporting the engine to Russia.

Meanwhile, the life of other turbines, with the exception of one required for the operation of Nord Stream, has come to an end.

Gazprom turned them off because they could not send them for repair.

At the same time, the situation is further aggravated by the actions of Kyiv, Andrey Suzdaltsev believes.

As the specialist recalled, earlier Ukraine closed one of the entrances to its gas transportation system, as a result of which the transit of Russian gas to Europe through the country's territory was halved.

Now a similar state of affairs can be observed with oil supplies, the expert added.

“At the moment, Kyiv is harming the countries it relies on.

So, for example, the overlap of "Friendship" hits the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which supply weapons to Ukraine.

However, this is already turning into the traditional policy of the country's authorities: to block transit themselves and blame Russia for the lack of supplies,” Suzdaltsev added.

According to him, the European authorities, in turn, only encourage such behavior of the Ukrainian side.

As the expert explained, it is beneficial for Brussels to shift its mistakes in the field of energy to Moscow and convince its own voters of this.

However, the continuation of such a policy may threaten the EU itself, Suzdaltsev is sure.

“With Druzhba, the problem can be solved if the European Union nevertheless intervenes in the situation, as it already did with the transit of goods to Kaliningrad through Lithuania.

Then the EU recognized that the transportation of goods from one end of the country to the other is not subject to sanctions.

Here, too, we need to wait for statements from Brussels, since Hungary is legally entitled to receive oil through the pipeline.

If there is no progress in this regard, stopping the transit of oil now could have a serious impact on Europe, ”the expert concluded.