Orbán has said he will discuss U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil with Trump at a meeting scheduled for 7 November. Speaking to reporters in Air Force One, Trump confirmed that Orbán had appealed for an exception, citing Hungary’s reliance on Russian crude delivered through pipelines.
“He asked for an exemption, but we didn’t grant it—not a single one. He’s my friend, yes, but he asked for an exemption,” Trump said. Orbán has said he will discuss U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil with Trump at a meeting scheduled for 7 November and aims to conclude a broad economic agreement with the United States.
“Hungary is a landlocked country… We are dependent on those transport routes through which energy can reach Hungary. These are mostly pipelines,” Orbán said.
“We have to make the Americans understand this peculiar situation … if we want them to allow exemptions from the American sanctions against Russia,” he said.
Orbán said that despite having access to the sea, Germany had sought an exemption for one of its refineries.
Germany’s economy minister said on Tuesday he had received assurances from Washington that Rosneft’s German business would be exempt from the sanctions because the assets are no longer under Russian control. Rosneft’s German arm owns a controlling stake in the Schwedt oil refinery.
The new U.S. sanctions, which pose a risk to Hungary’s reliance on crude imports from Russia, were announced days after a fire at the main Danube refinery of Hungarian oil group MOL that forced it to operate at reduced capacity.
On Thursday, Hungary’s government published draft legislation to amend a law on stockpiling of imported crude and crude products to enable it to designate so-called standby filling stations to provide fuel to critical users in a supply emergency.
Orbán’s talks with Trump next week will be his first bilateral meeting with the U.S. president since his long-time ally returned to the White House.
Lukoil, Russia’s second-largest oil producer, announced on 30 October it has accepted a binding offer from Swiss-based commodities powerhouse Gunvor Group Ltd. to offload its entire international arm, LUKOIL International GmbH, in a move driven by escalating Western sanctions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.