Middle Eastern oil and gas prices soar, Europe calls for Ukraine to agree to Russian oil transit

The surge in oil prices has made Europe lose its patience. The European Union is once again pressuring Ukraine to repair and reopen the damaged oil pipeline to restore the transit of Russian crude oil.

On Wednesday local time, media reports citing five EU diplomats and officials stated that the EU is urging Ukraine to allow European representatives to enter the damaged site of the "Friendship" (Druzhba) oil pipeline for an independent assessment to promote the resumption of Russian oil transit to Hungary and Slovakia.

During a recent visit to Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel directly requested Ukrainian officials to allow Europe to independently evaluate the damage to the "Friendship" pipeline, but their request was rejected.

The "Friendship" oil pipeline is a large network system for transporting crude oil from Russia to Central and Eastern Europe, starting in the Samara region of southwestern Russia and running through Ukraine to the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency in January, Ukraine stated that oil transit was interrupted starting January 27 due to damage from Russian attacks. However, Hungary and Slovakia do not accept Ukraine's claims, accusing Ukraine of deliberately delaying the restoration of oil transit and demanding the dispatch of a "fact-finding mission."

Despite protests from Hungary and other countries and demands from the EU, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated that repairing the "Friendship" oil pipeline "won't be quick."

Currently, energy price fluctuations are intensifying, and Europe seems to be more anxious.

The fuel market has reacted sharply to the impacts from the Middle East. European benchmark diesel futures surged 34% within two days, with a settlement price rising to $1,009 per ton, while U.S. diesel futures briefly rose 16%. Against the backdrop of low inventories in Europe and the U.S., price fluctuations are transmitting to transportation costs and inflation expectations.

A senior EU diplomat told the Financial Times: “We cannot determine whether there is damage or not. It is not difficult to prove—document the evidence and show that they are working on repairs. But they are not doing that.”

Hungary ties aid financing to Ukraine to the pipeline issue, Zelensky responds

Reports indicate that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has delayed approving a roughly €90 billion EU aid/loan arrangement for Ukraine due to this dispute and proposed sending a verification team jointly with Slovakia. Orbán also claimed to have satellite evidence, believing the pipeline "is not damaged severely enough to be non-operational," and stated that "countermeasures" would be maintained until Ukraine restores transit.

The Financial Times noted that the satellite images it has seen do show that pipeline facilities have been attacked, but it is difficult to assess the extent of the damage based solely on images.

Ukrainian President Zelensky pointed to domestic politics in Hungary as the issue. He stated: "Now you are blocking €90 billion... this is the money we need to buy weapons and for survival."

Ukraine emphasizes "repair costs and war risks," disclosing damage details

A senior Ukrainian official close to Zelensky refuted the claim of "delayed repairs," stating that Naftogaz technicians have submitted evidence to Europe showing that the Druzhba pipeline has been "severely damaged." Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi described the aftermath of the attack: "The Russian military strike ignited an oil storage tank containing 75,000 cubic meters of oil, and the fire burned for 10 days before it was extinguished." He stated, "A large amount of equipment, power cables, transformers, and the leak detection system responsible for sealing the pipelines were damaged," adding, "The airstrike triggered a fire in the largest tank of Europe's largest oil depot, which is as wide as a football field."

Ukrainian officials simultaneously raised a sharper reality constraint: "Why do we have to repair this pipeline—during wartime, without a ceasefire—allowing Russian oil to flow to Russia's friends?" He stated that restarting transit means sending repair teams to potentially dangerous areas and squeezing already limited resources