Szijjarto: Increasing Serbia's share in NIS ownership structure is "mathematically possible"

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto has stated that Hungary's MOL is in "close negotiations" with the ADNOC company from the United Arab Emirates about cooperation regarding NIS (Petroleum Industry of Serbia, which is under US sanctions).

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As for Serbia's intention to increase its ownership share in NIS, Szijjarto said that this is "mathematically possible" - but that the details will be up to MOL itself.

"I think it will be great news if the integrated action of the three markets in the region is also supported in the form of ADNOC and MOL cooperation regarding Serbia, but that is their job. We welcome their negotiations in this regard and we hope they will be successful," said Szijjarto, who was visiting Serbia on Thursday.

He told RTS that there is a real chance that MOL will reach a crucial agreement with Gazprom Neft to acquire a majority stake in NIS within one to three days, and that MOL and Gazprom Neft have made fairly quick progress in their negotiations.

Szijjarto added that the reason for the Hungarian government's diplomatic support to MOL is that, in the event that MOL successfully buys the majority share in NIS, then through that company, the oil markets of Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia will operate in an integrated manner.

This, he said, will put this region in a favorable position from the perspective of energy security, in a way it has never enjoyed before.

"We are three landlocked countries, three countries that are not among those with the largest oil deposits in the world, to put it mildly, and this disadvantage of ours will now be greatly reduced by such an integrated activity of the three markets," said Szijjarto, who, while in Belgrade, held a meeting with Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic.

The Hungarian official stressed that in this respect the Pancevo Refinery would play a key role, so the operations of three regional refineries in Bratislava, Hungary, and Pancevo would provide a large and significant new dimension to this region, which it has never had before.

"We all know that no matter how good something is for you, there are always those who are against it, and those who are against it don't hold back from spreading fake news and lies. I heard that fake news was spread about the Pancevo Refinery shutting down in the future, which is fake news. I want to tell the audience not to believe such lies. I believe that the refinery in Pancevo is of key importance," Szijjarto said during his interview with RTS.

When asked about Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic saying that the state of Serbia would like to increase its share in NIS by 5 percent and whether this is acceptable to MOL, Szijjarto said that the details will be left entirely to MOL.

"As far as we know, it is important for MOL to have a majority share, so it is mathematically possible," Szijjarto said.

Asked about Transnafta Pancevo announcing a tender for the construction of an oil pipeline that would run from Serbia's border with Hungary and whether Hungary plans to use the capacities of the Drudzhba pipeline to supply Serbia via that future oil pipeline, and whether this would reduce dependence on existing routes and suppliers, primarily on JANAF - Szijjarto said that this is a key issue, because the recent period has shown how helpless a country is in case it is supplied with oil or gas via one route.

He said that Brussels wants to put Hungary in that position with the so-called REPowerEU project, that would completely isolate Russia from the EU when it comes to energy supplies - something the minister said Hungary has completely rejected.

"It would certainly worsen energy security situation in this region, so, the more routes and pipelines, the more sources, the better. It's not rocket science, it's very easy to understand. So the more routes and pipelines, the more sources, the better," Szijjarto said.

He stressed that Hungary considers the construction of a new oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia to be crucial and that is why it has been agreed with Djedovic Handanovic to sign an intergovernmental agreement which will describe a beneficial environment for MOL's work on the Serbian oil market and include the priority status when it comes to building a new oil pipeline between Serbia and Hungary.

"It's clear to us that the Government of Serbia has already announced a tender for the construction of that oil pipeline and one MOL subsidiary will take part in the tender. In Hungary, we are now preparing a law that will declare this investment as having national economic priority, and I think it will be implemented quickly in 2028," said Szijjarto.

He added that the plan is to build a pipeline to transport oil derivatives, which will connect the refinery in Hungary with the MOL logistics in Vojvodina (Serbia's northern province) that he said will also contribute to energy security of both Serbia and Hungary.

Speaking about what this winter has shown about Hungary's energy security, as well as that of Serbia and the whole of Europe, Szijjarto said the current situation shows that treating energy supply as an ideological issue is not only a mistake, but also "a sin."

He added that if energy is considered an ideological issue, then the security of the energy supply of the entire continent is in danger.

"So we should go back to the good old school and say that energy is a physical issue, and since it is a physical issue it has its own laws and definitions that have nothing to do with ideology. You don't care where the gas comes from, as long as it's cheap and as long as it's reliable. No one should be forced to trade a cheap and reliable energy source for a more expensive and unreliable one. The current situation has shown this as a lesson from which we should should draw conclusions," said Szijjarto.

When the journalist stated that he believed Russia "likes" this answer, Szijjarto said that he "doesn't care about that" and that he usually faces such accusations from Brussels, and stressed that he sees things from the Hungarian point of view.

"But I don't care, that's my opinion and I don't care who likes it or doesn't like it. I always look at things from the Hungarian point of view. I can't look at my problem from someone else's point of view, because others do, but I can't. The national interest always comes first, and whether someone likes it or not, that's not my priority," Szijjarto concluded.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)