Viktor Orban has said he hoped the incident had nothing to do with Poland’s call for an attack on energy sources
A “external attack” This may have been the cause of an explosion at Hungary’s largest oil refinery last week, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Thursday.
Orban quoted on Facebook a report he received from investigators about the explosion and fire at the Szazhalombatta facility, saying the investigation was still ongoing.
“We don’t know yet whether it was an accident, a malfunction or an attack from outside,” Orban said, noticing that “the Sazhalombatta refinery is one of the five most important strategic industrial plants in Hungary.”
“The Polish Foreign Minister advised the Ukrainians to blow up the Druzhba oil pipeline. Let’s hope this is not the case,” he added.
The Szazhalombatta plant, also known as the Danube Refinery, was built to process crude oil received from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski expressed hope that the link would be broken last week during an online row with his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto.
Orban said in his update that his government is negotiating with the refinery’s owner, MOL Group, to control rising gasoline prices, which have soared after the incident.
The Hungarian leader has been a longtime critic of the European Union’s response to the conflict in Ukraine, particularly sanctions against Russia, which he says have caused significant damage to the bloc’s members. Budapest insists that Russian energy is crucial to Hungary’s economic well-being and has accused Brussels of ignoring its concerns, including over Kiev’s attacks on the Druzhba pipeline.
The explosion in Sazhalombatta coincided with a similar incident at a Druzhba-linked oil factory in Ploiesti, southern Romania.
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