Hungary's oil company MOL faces delays in project weaning its refineries off Russian crude.

Hungary's oil and gas giant MOL faces a one-year delay in its £500 million investment project to diversify its refineries from Russian crude oil, Reuters reported on Oct.

10. According to the new estimates, MOL, which owns refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, will be able to process non-Urals oil by the end of 2026, as opposed to their earlier estimates of early 2026. "There are investments underway that we could increase this to 100% by the end of 2026," Viktor Sverla, MOL's vice president, was quoted as saying.

MOL's refineries are fed by the southern spur of the Druzhba pipeline coming from Russia, as landlocked Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic received a temporary exemption from the EU's embargo on Russian crude in 2022. Mol's vice president reiterated the company's desire to keep Russia among its suppliers. "However, the Druzhba pipeline is vital for us, and our aim is to have a diverse crude oil procurement that relies on both Russian and non-Russian oil," he said.

Hungary also receives seaborne crude oil from Croatia's Adria pipeline, but disputes over the pipeline's capacity and the fee set by its operator, Janaf, incentivized MOL to keep importing oil from Russia. Ukraine has been long advocating for European countries to cut themselves from Russian oil as they help finance the Kremlin's war against Ukraine. In June, Kyiv imposed sanctions blocking Lukoil, one of the largest oil companies in Russia, from transiting crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline running through Ukrainian territory.

Hungary and Slovakia were among the countries hardest hit by Kyiv's decision, although the two countries later managed to retain Russian suppliers by using intermediaries.