BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Russian oil producer Lukoil and Hungarian energy company MOL will sign a settlement deal over contaminated oil on Wednesday, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday.
"We are proud to say that we are the first country which managed to close the negotiations in this respect," Szijjarto told a news conference also attended by MOL and Lukoil executives. Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Budapest on Wednesday.
A high level of organic chloride was found in late April in Russia's Druzhba pipeline, which connects Siberian oilfields with Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary. The contamination disrupted oil exports from Russia to the West and has led to protracted negotiations over compensation.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
