The Druzhba oil pipeline between Hungary and Russia is pictured at the Hungarian MOL Group's Danube Refinery in Szazhalombatta, Hungary, May 18, 2022. Picture taken May 18, 2022. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
By Andras Gergely and Thomas Escritt
Feb 15, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Mol Group Nyrt, Hungary’s largest energy company, asked the government to release strategic oil reserves to keep its refineries operating while a key pipeline route through Ukraine remains blocked.
The company said no oil has been delivered via the pipeline since Jan. 27 and that it started supplying its refineries with seaborne crude.
However, these shipments are only expected to arrive at the port of Omisalj in Croatia in early March, according to the company, and it will then take 5-12 days for the oil to reach its refineries.
Because of this lag, Hungary will need to release around 250,000 tons of reserves if flows through the Druzhba pipeline are not resumed in coming days. Fuel supplies were not endangered, Mol Group said.
Oil transit along the Druzhba pipeline has been halted since late last month amid large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, with the governments in Budapest and Kyiv in a standoff over the fallout. Hungary relies on the pipeline, which connects the country with Russia through war-torn Ukraine, for most of its oil flows.
Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said Sunday that Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to allow the shipment of Russian crude via the Adriatic pipeline as a stopgap.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has found an ally in Slovak counterpart Robert Fico, who on Sunday echoed his views that Ukraine was using the Druzhba pipeline for political leverage, which officials in Kyiv have denied.
Orban, who remains committed to buying Russian energy sources for his landlocked country, has also frequently engaged in debate with neighboring Croatia over the capacity of the Adriatic pipeline.
Croatia is ready to help deal with the disruption in flows as far as European Union law and US sanctions permit, Economy Minister Ante Susnjar said Monday in a post on X.
“No one should be left without fuel,” Susnjar said.
Energy policy featured in Orban’s talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Budapest on Monday, with Rubio saying Hungary’s exemption from US sanctions were testimony to the warmth of President Donald Trump’s feelings towards Orban.
Read More: Hungary, US to Sign Nuclear Cooperation Deal, Szijjarto Says
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
This article contains reporting from Bloomberg, published under license.
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