The ninth package of EU sanctions against Russia adopted on Friday allows Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia, which received a reprieve from the European Union’s oil embargo on Russian oil, to export oil products produced from it to Ukraine.
The EU Council resolution published in the EU Official Journal on December 16 says the decision “allows Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria to export to Ukraine certain refined products derived from Russian crude oil imported on the basis of the considered derogations (from the embargo – IF), including, if necessary, by transit through other member states.”
Another paragraph of the ruling allows Bulgaria to “export to third countries certain petroleum products derived from Russian crude oil imported on the basis of the derogations under consideration.
The publication attributes this to the need to “reduce environmental and safety risks, as such products cannot be safely stored in Bulgaria.
The document specifies that the respective annual exports should not exceed the average annual volume of exports of such products for the last five years.
Slovakia is ready, but has not yet sent MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, this issue was discussed in detail with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, said Slovak Foreign Minister Rastislav Kacher.
“We have not yet handed over the MIG-29s to you. But we are ready to do it. We are talking with our partners in NATO about how to do it. And today (Dec. 8) we had a very informative conversation with your president. My secretary of defense explained to your president how we can do this. And I think that in the coming weeks a Ukrainian delegation will come to Slovakia, and we will work together with our American friends to make this a reality,” Kacher told Interfax-Ukraine.
The foreign minister noted that on December 7 Slovakia approved “a couple of thousand missiles that are used for the MIG-29.” He also said that he discussed the issue of sending the planes with the president of Ukraine during a meeting.
“But we also discussed it at some length with President Zelensky, too. And I think I need to keep it a secret how it’s going to be done so as not to jeopardize it. But I will say that we had a very, very good exchange with President Zelensky today about how we’re going to do this. So I’m very optimistic, I think it will be done soon too, the planes will appear in Ukraine,” Kacher added.
More than EUR66 million will be allocated under the first Interreg NEXT European cross-border cooperation program for Hungary, Slovakia and Romania’s partnership with Ukraine in health, environment and good governance, the European Commission (EC) announced Friday. “This program is part of the EU’s overall support and unwavering solidarity toward Ukraine. By implementing a cohesion policy, Interreg will help Ukraine and its bordering member states to face common challenges and seize joint opportunities,” said Elisa Ferreira, EC member for cohesion policy and reforms.
The program covers the period of 2021-2027. Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine are expected to work together to ensure equal access to health services and improve the sustainability of their health systems.
The program will support climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention solutions. The participating countries will cooperate to protect nature, develop “green infrastructure” and tourism.
It is also a question of aligning Ukraine’s norms with EU member states in the area of effective public administration. Relevant projects will promote legal and administrative cooperation to remove common barriers to interaction in border areas, while supporting cooperation between citizens, civil societies and state institutions, according to a communiqué from the European Commission.
CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION, HUNGARY, ROMANIA, SLOVAKIA, UKRAINE
A Ukrainian transport company reacted positively to the proposal of Slovnaft and MOL to pay transit fees for transporting oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the Slovak company said.
“Slovnaft has already made a payment to the company’s account. Based on this, Slovnaft expects the resumption of oil supplies in the coming days. The Russian side also agreed with this decision,” the company stressed.
According to Bloomberg, the Hungarian MOL also transferred the transit payment and expects to resume deliveries in the coming days.
Earlier, Transneft reported that on August 4, Ukrtransnafta stopped the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine due to a failure to pay the transit fee. It was noted that the funds sent on July 22 for transit in August were returned to the account of Transneft on July 28 in connection with the entry into force of EU Regulation 2022/1269. Through the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline passing through the territory of Ukraine, oil supplies are carried out in the direction of the refineries of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic on the basis of a long-term agreement between PJSC Transneft and JSC Ukrtransnafta for the provision of oil transportation services on the terms of 100% prepayment.
The Hungarian MOL and the Slovak Slovnaft (also part of the MOL group) initiated discussions with the Ukrainian and Russian sides on the possibility of paying a transit fee to MOL or Slovnaft, which would allow oil supplies to be restored.
“The interruption of supplies occurred after technical problems at the bank level due to the payment of transit fees from the Russian side. However, production at the Bratislava refinery is running smoothly, and deliveries to the market are smooth. During this period, the Bratislava refinery is in close cooperation with the national oil transporter Transpetrol, as well as in cooperation with the Slovak Ministry of Economy, uses all the reserves available in the system for processing,” Slovnaft said.
So far, there have been no reports of a solution to the problem of transit to the Czech Republic.
Last year, 12 million tons of Russian oil was transported through Druzhba through Ukraine, including 3.4 million tons to the Czech Republic, 5.2 million tons to Slovakia, and 3.4 million tons to Hungary.
In May 2022, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine created the company Naftogaz Slovakia s.r.o., according to data from the open registers of the republic,
The authorized capital in the amount of EUR300 thousand is provided by another subsidiary of NJSC – Naftogaz Trading Europe AG (Switzerland). Vladimir Tomash, an Ivano-Frankivsk businessman, is listed as the head of the Slovak enterprise.
The company’s initial activity was the rental of real estate, and since mid-June, administrative services, mediation in the field of trade and production, advertising, marketing and consulting services, as well as market and public opinion research have been added.
Naftogaz of Ukraine unites the largest oil and gas producing enterprises of the country (100% of Ukrgazvydobuvannya and 50% + 1 share of PJSC Ukrnafta). The Group has a monopoly on the storage of natural gas in underground storage facilities (100% Ukrtransgaz) and the transportation of oil by pipeline across the country (100% Ukrtransnafta), and is actively developing the direction of gas supplies to household consumers.
Proceeds from sales of NPC Ukrenergo’s available interstate transmission capacity for electricity exports to Romania and Slovakia amounted to UAH 200.3 million since the opening on June 30.
These data are based on the results of the latest auctions in the Romanian and Slovak directions, held on July 10 with delivery on July 12. According to them, the section price to Slovakia was UAH 10.3 million and to Romania – UAH 10.2 million.
Traditionally, the most active participants in these auctions are DTEK Zakhidenergo, ERU Trading, and Le-Trading Ukraine.
At the same time, Energoatom began to participate in auctions for the export of electricity to Slovakia from the moment they started on July 5 for supplies on July 7 (two days before delivery). For the first time, the company bought almost 500 MWh of the possible 1200 MWh for export at the auction on July 9 with delivery on July 11. The plans for July 12 are to export 131 MWh.
At the same time, Ukrhydroenergo, which for the first time bought out a section to Slovakia for export of 148 MWh on July 9, and then for export of 110 MWh on July 10, ended the last two auctions with delivery on July 11 and 12 to no avail.
Auctions with delivery on July 10 became an anti-record at the cross-section price: for Slovakia, it fell on this day to UAH 11/MWh with delivery at 12-16:00, and the highest was UAH 2,390 /MWh at 23:00. For Romania, the lowest price was UAH 100/MWh at 13-14:00, the highest was a little over UAH 2,200/MWh with delivery at 21:00-23:00. For comparison: according to the results of all auctions, the price for Romania was the lowest on July 3 – UAH 1,380/MWh.
It is noteworthy that Ukrhydroenergo reserved most of its daily resource at the lowest prices in both directions.
In general, in both directions, the price of a section on July 10 amounted to a little more than UAH 2 million.
As of July 11, this figure was already ten times more – UAH 20.5 million.
The section from Slovakia and Romania for July 10-12, as before, was not reserved.
The section to Poland continues to be purchased at daily auctions in addition to the 147 MW capacity purchased at the monthly auction by DTEK Zakhidenergo – at 65 MW every hour (1,560 MWh per day) on July 10-12.
The daily cross-section to Moldova on July 10-12, according to the traditional scenario, was divided by Energoatom, which bought out a cross-section for export of 9,400 MWh per day, and Ukrhydroenergo – 2,400 MWh per day.
The section price at all auctions, except for exports to Romania, is UAH 0/MWh.
