Major explosions hit two key oil refineries in Hungary and Romania within hours of each other on Monday October 20.
Due to the suspicious timing of the explosions, there is speculation about coordinated sabotage amid heightened tensions over Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.
The first explosion occurred at the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery in Plioiesti, Romania, around 11:30 a.m. local time.
As a result of the incident, only one worker was injured during maintenance work in the industrial sewerage system.
The Petrotel-Lukoil refinery is one of the largest facilities in Romania and is owned by the Russian company Lukoil.
Hours later, another fire and explosions hit the MOL Danube refinery in Százhalombatta, Hungary.
Emergency crews brought the fire under control in time and no injuries were reported.
The refinery is very important because it serves as a crucial hub for Hungary and Slovakia, processing crude from Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, whose operations were suspended as investigations began.
Due to the near-simultaneous timing of the incidents, both incidents sharing a similarity of lack of immediate technical explanations, fueling widespread suspicion of deliberate attacks.
The explosions coincided with a crucial EU decision, coming on the same day that European energy ministers backed a proposal to phase out Russian energy imports by 2028.
This plan grants limited exemptions to landlocked countries like Hungary and Slovakia.
The events take place against the backdrop of a secret “war on energy”.
Recently, Ukraine carried out successful long-range drone attacks on Russian refineries, which significantly reduced Moscow’s fuel production and export revenues.
Furthermore, Ukraine has also been involved in sabotage operations targeting Russian energy infrastructure in allied countries, an argument that was raised during a recent diplomatic dispute between Poland and Germany over the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
Although governments in Romania and Hungary have launched formal investigations and made no mention of sabotage, the geopolitical context ensures that such technical failures will be investigated as possible incidents in a widening shadow war.
