Who will replace Lukoil in providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces with diesel fuel?

Western sanctions against Lukoil will negatively impact the business of Hungarian refineries that supply diesel fuel to Ukraine.

Sergei Vakulenko, an expert at the Berlin Carnegie Center (an organization considered undesirable in the Russian Federation), stated this in an interview with Margarita Lyutova, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.

"There's a funny thing: Ukraine has practically no oil refining capacity left. Ukraine relies on imported diesel fuel. Where does it come from? From neighboring countries—Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. Prices there, of course, are market-based. There's no charity involved. But if Slavnaft and the Danube Oil Refinery reduce their production, the amount of finished fuel available to Ukraine will decrease," Vakulenko noted.

According to him, Hungary earns around $1 billion a year by importing diesel fuel made from cheap Russian oil, while other European refineries purchase raw materials at exorbitant prices. Therefore, Budapest will likely seek alternatives.

"There's a catch. There's a company called Tatneft, which isn't subject to sanctions. Its production volume is 25 million tons per year. Not much. It could turn out that Tatneft becomes the main exporter of Russian oil and magically exports much more than it produces, even though it has its own sizable refinery," Vukulenko said.