Hungary's MOL takes initiative to restart Russian oil flux

BUDAPEST, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Major Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has tried to restart the flow of crude oil to Hungary by paying a transit fee to Ukraine, the company said on Wednesday. The oil will arrive in Hungary on Thursday.

Following negotiations with the Ukrainian and Russian parties on the resumption of the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, MOL transferred the transit fees for the use of the Ukrainian section of the pipeline.

The payment provided a quick solution to the problem of crude oil delivery, MOL said, which had been halted on August 4 due to technical obstacles with banks. Before that, Russia's crude oil arrived in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via the southern section of the Druzhba pipeline.

Local news portal Telex said that Russian oil exporter Transneft had sent the transit fee to Ukraine's accounts held in European banks, but the latter refused the payment from Russia, not wanting to break the European Union's economic sanction rules against Russia.

MOL also said that its subsidiary in Slovakia had made a payment in order to enable the resumption of the flux to Slovakia.