Croatian officials have responded angrily to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto’s accusation that Croatia is not a reliable transit country after Zagreb offered its pipeline infrastructure to transport oil to refineries in Hungary and Slovakia. 

There are concerns in the two countries about the impact on oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline after the Ukrainian ban on Russian oil major Lukoil using the pipeline, announced in July. Since then, both Budapest and Bratislava have been urgently seeking alternatives, while also appealing to officials in Brussels for help to resolve the crisis. 

However, a proposal from Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on August 1 to assist was swiftly – and insultingly – rejected by Szijjarto, while Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar also expressed doubts about the offer. 

Plenkovic stepped in after Slovakia and Hungary requested the European Commission's intervention, citing threats to their energy security due to Ukrainian sanctions against Lukoil, which they said had disrupted traditional supply routes.

In response, Szijjárto explicitly criticised Croatia's reliability.

“[B]ased on our experience so far, Croatia is not a reliable transit country for us, because after the outbreak of the war [in Ukraine], the Croats raised the transit fee many times more than the European market averages, they did not allow long-term capacity transfers and it is not clear that exactly how much crude oil the pipeline that passes through them can deliver,” Szijjártó wrote on Facebook on August 2 following a meeting with Vice-President of the European Commission Valdis Dombrovskis.

Blanar questioned Croatia's offer for lacking specifics. “But for what price? What capacity? No one knows that today,” he said, reported Reuters. 

Szijjártó’s statement sparked anger in Zagreb. Croatia's Foreign Minister, Gordan Grlić Radman, labelled Szijjártó's remarks “politically deeply offensive”, a government statement said. 

“We are unpleasantly surprised by the statement of [Hungarian] Minister Peter Szijjarto, in which he characterised #[Croatia] as an unreliable transit country.

“Such and similar statements have no factual basis; these are completely untrue and hasty claims,” the minister wrote on X (formerly Twitter). 

In addition to Radman, Croatia’s economy ministry also issued a statement criticising Szijjarto. 

A ministry statement accused the Hungarian foreign minister of making “insane and utterly meaningless” accusations, and added: “These situations remind us of Hungary's unpredictable and contradictory behaviour in matters of energy cooperation.” 

The statement concluded: “We call on Hungary to refrain from further baseless accusations and untruths and to return to constructive dialogue in the interest of mutual prosperity and energy security, and ultimately energy independence.” 

JANAF has also defended its operations, saying on August 2 it has invested in its transport-storage system and proved its capability to transport 1.2mn tonnes of crude oil monthly. “Accordingly, JANAF can fully meet the crude oil needs of the MOL Group refineries in Bratislava and Budapest,” the company added. 

Following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the European Union banned oil imports from Russia but granted exemptions to Czechia, Hungary and Slovakia to find alternative supplies.

However, in July, Kyiv barred Lukoil from using Ukraine for transit, affecting both Hungary and Slovakia, which together receive 2mn tonnes per year (tpy) of crude oil from Lukoil.

After Ukraine imposed a ban on Lukoil shipments via the Druzhba pipeline, Budapest and Bratislava sought assistance from Brussels. 

Hungary also threatened to block European Peace Facility funds for Ukraine, while Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico warned of halting diesel fuel deliveries to Ukraine.

However, the European Commission stated that there was no indication of decreased oil flow or shortages, as other suppliers, including Hungary's MOL, were still able to use the pipeline. Despite the Lukoil ban, other Russian suppliers continued to use the Druzhba pipeline.

The European Commission has encouraged Hungary and Slovakia to reduce their reliance on Russian oil, despite their complaints about Ukraine's sanctions on Lukoil. The Commission reassured them that their oil supply was not immediately endangered by Ukraine's actions. In a letter quoted by the Financial Times, Dombrovskis advised the governments of Bratislava and Budapest to actively pursue diversification away from Russian fossil fuels.

Meanwhile, head of Hungary’s leading oil company MOL, Zsolt Hernadi, also weighed in on the issue. Speaking at the MCC Fest on August 2, he said that statements by government officials that the transit ban by Ukraine would lead to fuel shortages were overly exaggerated.

"If oil supplies were to come to a complete halt on the Friendship 2 pipeline, the company would still be able to source Russian oil through maritime routes, albeit at a much higher cost," he said.

The transition from Russian-type Ural oil to alternative sources would cost MOL approximately $700mn, according to Hernadi, who claimed that despite an initial promise, the EU confirmed in writing that it will not provide funding for that project.

Hernadi criticised the alleged high transit fees imposed by Croatia on the transport of the Adriatic pipeline, leading to higher prices in Europe. He made the case that the Adriatic pipeline was not operating at full capacity and that the Croats had already raised the transit fees and "could do it at any time”.