Druzhba pipeline restarts Russian oil flows to Europe, unblocking $105B EU loan for Kyiv

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Russian oil flowed through the Ukrainian section ⁠of the Druzhba ​pipeline on Wednesday after a halt lasting months, ⁠officials said, allowing Hungary to lift its veto on a 90 ​billion euro ($105.79 billion) EU loan urgently needed by Kyiv.

The Druzhba pipeline has become one of the most politically charged pieces of infrastructure in Europe since a Russian drone strike damaged the pipeline in western Ukraine and stopped Russian oil deliveries to Hungary and Slovakia.

Hungarian oil group MOL ⁠said on Wednesday that Ukraine had informed it that deliveries of Russian crude had resumed through the pipeline.

“MOL expects ​the first crude oil shipments following the restart of the Ukrainian section of the pipeline system to arrive in Hungary and Slovakia by tomorrow at the latest,” ⁠it said in a statement.

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Pumping began at 5:35 a.m. ET, an industry source said, asking not to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Shortly afterwards, EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels approved the loan. The European Union’s 27 member states are now expected to formally sign off on it by Thursday afternoon.

The EU agreed to the loan last ⁠year to maintain Ukraine’s liquidity through 2026 and 2027 but Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Slovak government had blocked it, accusing Ukraine of delaying ‌the pipeline repairs, which Kyiv denied.

Both Hungary and Slovakia are heavily ​dependent on Russian oil and Orban has consistently shown support for Russia.

Ukraine’s prospects of receiving the loan had already improved when Orban lost Hungary’s parliamentary election on April 12.

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The leader ​of the ⁠winning party, Peter Magyar, has said he will no ‌longer block the EU funds for Kyiv, though he is only expected ⁠to take power next month.

The capacity of Druzhba, which in Russian means friendship, is 1.2 million to 1.4 million barrels of oil a day, with the possibility to increase to up to 2 million barrels a day.

However, flows fell to a small fraction of that as a result of Western sanctions as well as repeated disruptions from drone attacks.

Separately, Germany confirmed that ⁠no Kazakh crude would reach its PCK Schwedt refinery – one of the country’s largest – from May, after ‌industry sources said on Tuesday that Russia was set to stop Kazakhstan’s oil exports via the Druzhba pipeline.

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官员们表示，俄罗斯石油在中断数月后于周三通过德鲁日巴输油管道的乌克兰段恢复输送，这使得匈牙利得以解除对基辅急需的900亿欧元（1057.9亿美元）欧盟贷款的否决权。

自俄罗斯无人机袭击破坏了乌克兰西部的一条输油管道，导致俄罗斯向匈牙利和斯洛伐克输送石油中断以来，德鲁日巴输油管道已成为欧洲最具政治争议的基础设施之一。

匈牙利石油集团MOL周三表示，乌克兰方面已通知该公司，俄罗斯原油已通过该管道恢复输送。

“MOL预计，在乌克兰段管道系统重启后，首批原油最迟将于明天抵达匈牙利和斯洛伐克，”该公司在一份声明中表示。

Bernadett Szabo/路透社

维克托·欧尔班建立了一台“宣传机器”。匈牙利的下一任领导人必须将其拆除。

一位业内人士表示，抽水工作于美国东部时间早上 5:35 开始，该人士要求匿名，因为他没有被授权公开谈论此事。

随后不久，在布鲁塞尔召开的欧盟大使会议批准了这项贷款。预计欧盟27个成员国将于周四下午正式签署该协议。

欧盟去年同意向乌克兰提供贷款，以维持其在 2026 年和 2027 年的流动性，但匈牙利总理维克托·欧尔班和斯洛伐克政府阻止了这笔贷款，指责乌克兰拖延管道维修，基辅否认了这一指控。

匈牙利和斯洛伐克都严重依赖俄罗斯石油，而欧尔班也一直对俄罗斯表示支持。

4月12日，奥尔班在匈牙利议会选举中落败，乌克兰获得贷款的前景已经有所改善。

马顿·莫努斯/路透社

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获胜政党的领导人彼得·马扎尔表示，他将不再阻止欧盟向基辅提供资金，尽管他预计要到下个月才能上台。

“友谊”油田（俄语为Druzhba）的产能为每天120万至140万桶石油，并有可能增至每天200万桶。

然而，由于西方制裁以及无人机袭击的反复干扰，流量下降到之前的很小一部分。

另外，德国证实，从 5 月起，哈萨克斯坦的原油将不会运抵其位于​​德国施韦特的 PCK 炼油厂——该国最大的炼油厂之一。此前，业内人士周二表示，俄罗斯准备通过德鲁日巴管道停止向哈萨克斯坦出口石油。