"There Will Be No Reserve": Hungary sharply refused Ukraine's request to store fuel

Energy cooperation between neighboring states unexpectedly faced the threat of collapse due to internal political disputes. Loud statements at the highest level have already provoked a sharp diplomatic reaction and forced a review of strategic plans.

Why the fuel agreement was suddenly canceled

Energy cooperation between neighboring states unexpectedly faced the threat of collapse due to internal political disputes, loud statements at the highest level have already provoked a sharp diplomatic reaction and forced a review of strategic plans. Hungary's Prime Minister Peter Szijjarto sharply blocked the initiative to create a joint strategic fuel reserve with Ukraine. The project was to be implemented between Ukraine's state-owned Naftogaz and the Hungarian company Mol, as reported by Bloomberg.

There will be no reserve of fuel at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border or anywhere else,

— the head of the Hungarian government declared in response to opposition requests about security risks.

The main reason for the demarche was that Mol's chief executive Zsolt Hernádi conducted negotiations and signed a memorandum without government approval, which owns 25% of the company's shares. Szijjártó called such actions by the top manager "unacceptable," effectively annulling previous agreements reached at the Carpathian Eight Summit in Bovec.

Important! On its side, Mol representatives tried to smooth over the situation, explaining that the agreement had an exclusively research character. They noted that at the stage of studying the potential of energy cooperation, government involvement was allegedly not required.

How this will affect Ukraine

For Ukraine's energy market and Naftogaz's clients, this means the need to find new ways to store strategic fuel reserves under constant Russian attacks. Budapest's refusal complicates logistics and forces Kyiv to realign with other European partners to ensure price stability at gas stations.

Fuel

Average prices in the Amic Energy gas filling network as of

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed surprise at such a neighborly move. "It seems that even though Viktor Orban is gone, his obstructionist and isolationist policy continues to thrive," emphasized the Ukrainian diplomat.

Note! Earlier, Peter Szijjártó triumphantly won the April elections, removing from power the pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Orban, who had led the country for 16 years. Although the new prime minister tries to show independence from Russia, notably by expelling 10 suspected Russian spies, his stance on Ukraine remains hard.

Hungary's administration has already opposed speeding Ukraine's accession to the European Union. Such steps continue to slow the reboot of relations between Kyiv and Budapest, leaving economic cooperation hostage to politics.

Earlier we wrote that Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Szijjártó 13 in August questioned the agreement concluded by his predecessor Viktor Orban. Under it, the Russian state company Rosatom is to increase Hungary's nuclear power capacity.