BUDAPEST, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Hungary and Slovakia have agreed to build a new pipeline to transport gasoline and diesel between the two countries, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Monday.
In a video posted on Facebook, Szijjarto said he had signed an agreement earlier in the day with Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Sakova to construct the pipeline linking the oil refineries in Bratislava, Slovakia's capital, and Szazhalombatta in central Hungary.
According to Szijjarto, the pipeline will be 127 km long and capable of transporting up to 1.5 million tons of oil products annually, including diesel and gasoline.
He said the project would strengthen Hungary's energy supply, particularly diesel supplies, and help improve regional energy security.
The pipeline is expected to be completed in the first half of next year and will allow direct transportation of refined oil products between the two refineries, the minister added.
The Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude oil to Central Europe via Ukraine, has been out of operation since the end of January.
The disruption has become part of broader tensions between Budapest, Bratislava and Kyiv in recent weeks. Hungary has criticized the halt of oil transit and has also banned the export of gasoline and diesel to Ukraine, while blocking approval of a 90-billion-euro (103-billion-U.S.-dollar) European Union financial assistance package for Ukraine. ■