Ukraine’s Lukoil sanctions unlikely to cause shortage, Mol CEO says

Hungary won’t suffer any oil shortages because of Ukraine’s decision to block the transit of Lukoil PJSC’s crude, the chief executive officer of refiner Mol Nyrt. said.

“Let’s not cause panic,” Zsolt Hernadi, chairman and CEO, told a conference in a recording shared by the Budapest-based company Monday. “I don’t think this will lead to an actual shortage.”

That contradicts assertions by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government and Slovakia, which called on the European Union to help resolve the situation. The EU rebuffed those concerns, saying Ukraine’s hardening of sanctions against the Russian producer won’t affect transit operations by trading companies using the Druzhba pipeline.

Hungary has 90 days of strategic reserves and can also buy Russian crude via Croatia, Hernadi said at the conference Friday. The nation is better off having more options for importing crude, he said.

Hungary has been reluctant to diversify its oil supplies, claiming without evidence that costs would be significantly higher to import from alternatives such as Croatia.

Hungary and Slovakia, both landlocked nations that obtained exemptions from EU energy sanctions on Russia, each get at least a third of their crude supplies from Lukoil.