Hungary last month called on the EU to force Ukraine to back down over the sanctions, which it claims amount to energy blackmail. The EU, however, declined to engage, indicating there were several options to ensure oil would still flow.
Now Gulyás is calling on Kyiv to approve a new plan that would see Lukoil’s products simply traded to another company at the border before going through Ukraine.
“As soon as we can sign the contracts with the Ukrainian side, they will enter into force,” he said. The arrangement would mean paying an additional $1.50 per barrel to secure transit outside of previous agreements.
Responding to a question from POLITICO, Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, declined to commit to supporting the plan but said Kyiv would “see whether we would get some requests for negotiation from the Hungarians.”
The proposal is not entirely new, and may already informally be in use, experts claim.
“MOL proposed this on the first day of the crisis,” said Martin Vladimirov, director of the energy and climate program at the Center for the Study of Democracy. According to Vladimirov, the proposal will prove difficult for Kyiv to reject as long as other suppliers of Russian oil can move their products through the country.
