(Bloomberg) -- Energy company Mol Nyrt. sees the ambition to completely wean Europe away from Russian crude in the next few years as unrealistic for countries like Hungary and Slovakia, despite all its efforts to diversify supplies for its refineries in the region.
While the company would be willing to potentially invest $500 million in two years to adapt all its plants to other types of crude, it lacks the reliable long-term partners to do that, said Gyorgy Bacsa, the company’s Hungary chief operating officer and board member.
“Decoupling from Russian oil is not just a question of money,” he said in emailed comments to Bloomberg, adding that “currently, Russian crude supplies have no equivalent alternative for our landlocked countries and refineries.”
A complete phaseout of Russian imports was floated this month by Dan Jorgensen, designate as the European Union’s next energy chief. Hungary and Slovakia are exempt from sanctions imposed on Russian crude, and that has helped Mol boost its cash flow and offset the burden of windfall taxes imposed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Bacsa denied that Mol would only carry out the investments needed to adapt its refineries if it received aid from the EU, as reported by Politico.
Bacsa said that Hungary and its neighbors cannot do without Russian oil anytime soon, and that maintaining the flows is “essential for the security of supply in the region.”
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