Hungary’s state-owned oil company MOL held talks with the Ukrainian and Russian sides on restarting the Friendship oil pipeline. It also transferred the transit fee for using the pipeline's Ukrainian leg, the company told Hungary's state news agency (MTI) on Wednesday.

„By taking over the obligation of paying the transit fee, MOL has provided a quick solution to the problem: Ukraine has promised that oil deliveries, which were halted a few days ago due to technical problems on the banking side, would resume within a few days,” the statement reads.

The swift action was justified by the supply situation: oil is transported to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via the southern section of the Friendship (Druzhba) pipeline, and although Mol has enough oil reserves in Hungary to last for several weeks, as a large regional company it also bears responsibility for the supply security of neighbouring countries, the statement concludes.