Hungary Seeks $500 Million in Cash from EU to Abandon Russian Oil
Hungary's sole refiner of Russian oil wants $500 million in cash from the EU to end its oil dependence on Russia, POLITICO reported, citing a top oil and gas executive. Hungary is ready to do so if the European Union helps finance its transition to other importers.
Only then is the Hungarian oil and gas giant ready to diversify its supply before the EU's unofficial 2027 deadline to stop buying Russian oil, said György Bacha, executive vice president for strategic operations at MOL Group, which operates Hungary's only refinery importing Russian crude. According to him, Hungary's refineries could be ‘ready to operate without Russian oil by the end of 2026’.
This would require EU cash, given the technological challenges involved and the price tag of ‘$500 million’ to adapt MOL's refineries to process other types of crude oil. Baxa said the EU should help with ‘a few hundred million’.
MOL also has refineries processing Russian crude oil in Slovakia.
Currently, ‘we get zero because it's a refinery, so it's not eligible for any EU assistance, even if it's about decoupling from sources of supply, even if it's about security of supply,’ Baksa said. ‘So we are doing it at our pace and at what we can afford.’
Hungary is one of the few EU countries still allowed to import Russian oil.
The EU bloc banned all maritime imports back in 2022, but granted exemptions for pipeline oil coming to countries, including Hungary, that remain heavily dependent on Russian oil.
The ban was supposed to be temporary, but Hungary has shown little interest in moving away from Russian oil and has even increased its dependence.
Baksa said he is concerned that the EU will either set a specific end date or temporarily take more punitive measures.
‘We are concerned that the derogation [could] be closed without having a solution for long-term competitive sources of crude oil,’ he added, using the EU's term for an exemption from sanctions.
The next EU energy chief, former Danish climate official Dan Jorgensen, has promised to present a roadmap detailing how the bloc can stop buying fossil fuels from the remaining Russia.