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Minister: Hungarian section to new oil pipeline from Serbia will be completed by the end of 2027

Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, said that the Hungarian segment of an oil pipeline planned from Hungary to Serbia would be completed by 2027.

Szijjarto said in a press release following a meeting he had with Serbia's Energy Minister that Hungary had imported around 5 billion cubic meters of gas through the Turkstream pipeline via Serbia by the end August. This means this year's imports of gas via Turkstream may reach a record.

Szijjarto stated that the Hungarian oil company MOL will accelerate the construction of a new crude pipeline, allowing Serbia to receive Russian Urals crude.

He said that MOL would soon complete the first phase in Hungary. Permissioning and environmental preparations were also underway. The Hungarian segment of the pipeline will run 190 km.

After a Ukrainian attack on a Russian facility, the Russian oil supply to Hungary and Slovakia was suspended for several days in late August.

Russia and Ukraine have intensified their attacks on each others' energy infrastructure in recent weeks, destroying Ukrainian heating supplies and Russia's Druzhba Pipeline, as well as other facilities. This is because U.S. president Donald Trump has been pushing for an agreement to end the conflict.

After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, the European Union has reduced its energy supply from Russia and is aiming to phase out Russian gas and oil by 2027. EU members Slovakia, Hungary and Romania have maintained their relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. They oppose this phase-out. (Reporting and editing by Joe Bavier; Krisztina than)

(source: Reuters)