Szijjarto: Hungary and Slovakia to Link Refineries to Curb Ukraine Leverage

Budapest/Bratislava, 16 March (TASR-correspondent) - Hungary and Slovakia will build a direct connection between their oil refineries in Bratislava and Szazhalombatta to limit what Budapest describes as the blackmail potential of the Ukrainian leadership, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Brussels on Monday, TASR’s special correspondent in Budapest reported on the same day. At a press conference after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the Hungarian diplomacy chief said he had signed an important agreement earlier in the day with Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova under which the two countries will build a new product pipeline linking the oil refineries in Bratislava and Szazhalombatta. "It will be a 127-kilometre product pipeline capable of transporting 1.5 million tonnes of oil products, diesel and petrol. This will represent additional added value for Hungary's energy supply and Hungary's diesel supply, and it can protect against the consequences of wars in the world and mistaken Brussels policies," Szijjarto said. "The product pipeline will be completed in the first half of next year. By linking the oil refineries in Bratislava and Szazhalombatta, with the possibility of direct transport of diesel and petrol between them, both Hungary and Slovakia will be more protected from the kind of blackmail we are currently experiencing from the Ukrainians with the support of Berlin and Brussels," the foreign minister underlined. mf