Hungary's Orban says he will seek exemption from US oil sanctions

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday he hopes to convince President Donald Trump that Hungary should be exempted from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil because of its high dependence on pipeline networks for its energy supplies.

Orban has said he will discuss U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil with Trump at a meeting scheduled for November 7 and aims to conclude a broad economic agreement with the United States.

"Hungary is a landlocked country... We are dependent on those transport routes through which energy can reach Hungary. These are mostly pipelines," Orban said.

"We have to make the Americans understand this peculiar situation ... if we want them to allow exemptions from the American sanctions against Russia," he said.

Orban said that despite having access to the sea, Germany had sought an exemption for one of its refineries.

Germany's economy minister said on Tuesday he had received assurances from Washington that Rosneft's German business would be exempt from the sanctions because the assets are no longer under Russian control. Rosneft's German arm owns a controlling stake in the Schwedt oil refinery.

The new U.S. sanctions, which pose a risk to Hungary's reliance on crude imports from Russia, were announced days after a fire at the main Danube refinery of Hungarian oil group MOL that forced it to operate at reduced capacity.

On Thursday, Hungary's government published draft legislation to amend a law on stockpiling of imported crude and crude products to enable it to designate so-called standby filling stations to provide fuel to critical users in a supply emergency.

Orban's talks with Trump next week will be his first bilateral meeting with the U.S. president since his long-time ally returned to the White House.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Anita Komuves; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Timothy Heritage)