Il ritardo dell’Ungheria nei confronti del petrolio russo si scontra con la realtà

Summary:

A U.S. clampdown on Russian oil and proposed new EU tariffs are forcing Hungary to seek alternatives to its heavy reliance on Russian crude, likely pushing it toward Croatia’s Adria pipeline despite years of political and commercial disputes. Hungary has long resisted reducing Russian imports—arguing phaseout would threaten energy security and raise pump prices—while critics say the real impact would be on MOL’s profit margins and state tax revenue because Russian crude has been significantly cheaper.

Budapest accuses Croatia of charging excessive transit fees and questions the Adria pipeline’s capacity; Zagreb and Croatia’s pipeline operator JANAF strongly deny those claims and say they can meet Hungary’s needs. Technical disagreements between MOL and JANAF over recent flow tests persist, and their transit agreement is up for renewal.

Hungary is seeking exemptions from impending U.S. sanctions, but if sanctions and EU tariffs proceed, analysts say Hungary will have to decouple from Russian oil and reconcile with Croatia, with the European Commission potentially asked to mediate.

Explain me this guys:

Croatia produces only 10% ([whopping 9.52%](https://www.worldometers.info/oil/croatia-oil/)) of it’s oil, the rest is imported. Where from?

In 2023, Croatia imported Crude Petroleum primarily from: [Azerbaijan ($753M)](https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/crude-petroleum/reporter/hrv), Norway ($180M), Republic of the Congo ($78.7M), United States ($73.6M), and Kazakhstan ($31.3M).

So the absolute top importer is Azerbaijan. Don’t you think it’s hypocritical from us Europeans to be so proud of disconnecting from Russia, but still supporting a regime that also commits war crimes, possibly genocide, also silences dissent, also is criminal. The difference is, that the majority of Europeans can’t pin point Azerbaijan on the map? God knows how much of that oil is actually Azerbaijani or Kazakhstani, or if it’s just [rebranded](https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/news-research/latest-news/crude-oil/060722-kazakhstan-rebrands-crude-exports-via-russia-transneft-system) to fit this narrative. What a joke has this become