‘Last night, I listened to the Minister of the Interior’s report on the incident at the oil refinery in Százhalombatta, Hungary. The investigation is in full swing. We do not yet know whether it was an accident, a malfunction, or an external attack,’ Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday, 30 October.
Explosions broke out at the Százhalombatta oil refinery on 20 October. What made the event more suspicious was that on the same day, explosions also took place in another oil refinery, in Ploieşti, Romania. Both facilities are refining crude oil imported from Russia. The one in Százhalombatta is operated by the Hungarian oil giant MOL, while the one in Ploieşti is a Petrotel–Lukoil plant, Lukoil being a Russian company.
That is why an external attack is suspected: some believe this was an act of aggression to help the Ukrainian war effort in repelling the Russian invasion. While authorities have not yet confirmed any deliberate sabotage, the timing and locations of the incidents have raised concerns among both Hungarian and international officials.
‘The refinery in Százhalombatta is one of Hungary’s five most important strategic industrial plants. The Foreign Minister of Poland has advised the Ukrainians to blow up the Druzhba oil pipeline. Let’s hope that was not the case. Gasoline prices have already skyrocketed. I have instructed Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy to negotiate with MOL executives and make it clear that the company cannot compensate for its lost profits at the expense of consumers by raising fuel prices,’ the Prime Minister went on to write in his post.
Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski of Poland wrote in a social media post last week, on 22 October (after the explosions in Százhalombatta) that ‘I hope your brave compatriot, Major Magyar, finally succeeds in knocking out the oil pipeline that feeds Putin’s war machine and you get your oil via Croatia,’ which is presumably what PM Orbán was referring to in the post of his own.
There has been increasing pressure coming from Brussels (and sometimes even from Washington) on Hungary to give up its oil imports from Russia, the source country of about 85–90 per cent of its total oil imports. However, the Hungarian government has resisted those calls, citing the economic damage it would cause, as well as the geographic location of the country, which would make it cost-prohibitive to replace the crude oil imports from Russia.
Related articles:
