Crude deliveries to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline could resume on Thursday, according to the Hungarian government, offering a timeline for restoring supply on the pipeline's southern spur after the interruption that halted Russian crude to Hungarian refineries.

The government's statement, reported by Czech energy news outlet oEnergetice.cz, gives refiners dependent on Druzhba volumes a concrete restart date for the first time since flows stopped. Thursday now stands as the earliest point at which Hungarian refiners can begin rebuilding feedstock inventories drawn down during the outage.

Why the Druzhba spur matters to Hungarian refining

Druzhba's southern leg carries Russian export crude to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, feeding refineries configured to run that barrel. Any stoppage on the line forces affected operators to draw on tank stocks, seek alternative seaborne grades through Adriatic terminals, or cut runs.

For Hungary, the pipeline is the primary supply route for domestic refining. A Thursday restart would restore the normal logistics chain — assuming the date holds and deliveries actually resume as signaled.

What remains unconfirmed

The government has offered a projected restart date, not confirmation that oil is moving again. Pipeline restarts after interruptions routinely slip while operators verify line integrity, pumping-station status and quality of the crude in transit.

As of the statement, no confirmation of resumed physical deliveries had been issued, and no information was available on the cause of the stoppage, the volume affected, or whether Slovak and Czech sections of the southern spur would restart on the same timetable.

Watch items

The dates and verification milestones to follow:

• Thursday: whether Druzhba deliveries to Hungary physically resume as the government indicated
• Confirmation of flow: pumping data or refiner acknowledgment that crude is arriving at Hungarian delivery points
• Neighboring spur volumes: whether Slovakia and the Czech Republic see restored deliveries on the same schedule
• Refinery operations: whether Hungarian refineries maintained normal run rates through the outage or adjusted processing during the interruption