LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – The Druzhba pipeline exported some Ukrainian oil, as well as much higher volumes of Russian crude, before it was damaged a month ago by a Russian strike that has led to a halt in supply, three industry sources familiar with the matter said.
Oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia through the pipeline primarily operated by Russia have been suspended since January 27 following what Kyiv says was a Russian attack on pumping installations in western Ukraine, prompting a dispute within the European Union and efforts by Hungary to block new sanctions on Russia.
The use of the Druzhba pipeline to export Ukrainian oil to EU members Hungary and Slovakia has not been previously reported. The suspension denies Ukraine a source of export revenues and funding it needs to contain its budget deficit. It could force Kyiv to halt its oil production if it is sustained, the industry sources said.
Ukraine’s energy ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since the Russian invasion four years ago, Ukraine has classified all information on oil processing and exports.
UKRAINE’S OIL PRODUCTION IS TARGETED BY RUSSIA
Ukraine produced about 1.7 million tons of oil in 2021. It also imported significant volumes that were processed at the Kremenchuk refinery – which has a capacity of 19 million metric tons per year – as well as at several smaller plants.
At the start of the war in February 2022, Russia began targeting Ukraine’s refineries.
The effective destruction of Ukraine’s last refining capacity in mid-2025 forced traders to boost fuel imports and created a dilemma of what to do with Ukraine’s oil production, one of the sources said.
With no domestic refining capacity, Ukraine was forced to export oil, and Druzhba was the only route available, the source said. The section of the pipeline network in Ukraine is owned by the State Property Fund.
Reuters was unable to determine Ukraine’s current level of oil production. Ukrainian media reported that in 2024 Ukraine’s largest oil company Ukrnafta produced 1.4 million tons of oil, roughly the same as in 2023.
Ukraine was injecting some 40,000 metric tons of oil monthly into the Druzhba pipeline before Russia’s strike, according to a second industry source. The other sources confirmed there were exports but did not provide any estimate of the volumes. All three sources asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The second industry source said Ukraine had for several months prior to the Russian attack in January injected crude oil into the pipeline at Brody, in the west of the country, for delivery to Europe.
Oil delivered via the pipeline is processed at the refineries of Hungarian multinational oil firm MOL. MOL purchases several types of oil in addition to Russian oil, including Ukrainian oil to diversify supplies, company spokesperson Andrus Halasz said in an emailed response to Reuters questions.
He declined to give more detail.
The Hungarian and Slovakian governments did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
While other EU countries have ceased using Russian oil, Hungary and Slovakia have maintained their dependence on it and have accused Ukraine of deliberately prolonging the pipeline outage.
Hungary, in addition, has accused Ukraine of meddling in its April elections, it stalled a 90-billion-euro EU loan Kyiv is depending on and it has blocked a new round of European sanctions on Russia.
ONE OF THE WORLD’S LONGEST PIPELINES HAS LOST IMPORTANCE
Oil of Russian origin traditionally accounted for the bulk of oil transported to central Europe via the southern branch of Druzhba, which was built in the 1960s during the Soviet era. The pipeline’s name means friendship in English.
Moscow has accused Kyiv of threatening Europe’s energy security by stopping Russian oil flowing through the pipeline.
One of the largest pipelines in the world, with a capacity to pump more than 2 million barrels per day, Druzhba has lost importance following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent European sanctions.
Transit through the southern branch in 2025 hit a 10-year low of 9.7 million tons, Kyiv-based oil consultancy ExPro said. ExPro said Slovakia received 4.9 million tons of oil, while shipments to Hungary were 4.35 million tons. The Czech Republic ceased using Russian oil in April 2025.
The northern leg of the pipeline, which used to be the main supply line for Poland, uses only a small fraction of its capacity to ship Kazakh oil to Germany.
Ukraine has long planned to use the Druzhba pipeline to pump Caspian oil to Europe.
In 2002, it completed construction of the Odesa-Brody pipeline to connect Black Sea oil terminals with Druzhba, but that has since carried little oil.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that this section of pipeline was also attacked during the war.
Brussels has not sided with either party in the Druzhba row, but it has urged Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to respect the EU loan deal for Ukraine and plans to submit a legal proposal to permanently ban Russian oil imports on April 15.
Slovakia announced the Druzhba pipeline outage on February 13, long after shipments of Russian oil were cut off last month.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Barbara Lewis)