Ukraine has limited oil supplies to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline, which is the last route for the supply of Russian oil to Europe. According to Reuters, Hungary and Slovakia have now threatened to sue Ukraine over this blockade, which affected the Russian company Lukoil.
By 2022, Russia provided a third of all oil supplied to Europe. After the start of the war in Ukraine, the volume of supplies was significantly reduced, but still, about 300,000 barrels of oil were pumped through pipelines to Europe every day.
The main buyers were the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, which are exempt from compliance with Brussels' oil sanctions against Russia due to their dependence on Russian oil and limited alternative sources of supply, as they are landlocked. Poland and Germany, which have marine terminals, stopped buying Russian pipeline oil.
Reuters notes that Russia did not suffer significant losses from the fact that Berlin and Warsaw refused supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. Russia diverted most of these volumes to Asia, and China became the largest buyer of Russian oil, receiving about 2.14 million barrels per day through various routes.
Ukraine has already restricted the operation of the Druzhba pipeline. For example, in 2023, tariffs for its use were raised several times, due to which the "Druzhba" route became one of the least profitable for Russian companies. And since June, Lukoil, which provided 50% of the volume of oil delivered through the pipeline, came under the sanctions of Kyiv.
