A Hungarian mission to establish the facts surrounding the halt in supplies to the Druzhba pipeline is on its way to Ukraine, Hungarian Deputy Energy Minister Gabor Csepek said in a Facebook post on Monday, Reuters reported.
The four-member mission also includes Slovakia, Csepek said.
The Druzhba pipeline has been at the centre of a bitter diplomatic row between Budapest and Kiev after Russian oil supplies were halted in January.
Amid the dispute, Hungary last month vetoed a new package of sanctions against Russia and blocked a major new loan for Ukraine.
"The government has formed a delegation that is expected to investigate the facts surrounding the "Druzhba" oil pipeline. Our job is to establish the status of the oil pipeline and create conditions for its resumption of operation," Čepek wrote.
Hungary and Slovakia - the only EU countries that still import Russian oil - accuse Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of the facility's operations for political reasons.
Kiev insists that the pipeline was damaged by Russian drone attacks and its repair cannot be carried out quickly.
"The crisis in the Middle East has raised the stakes, forcing the Hungarian government to release quantities from strategic reserves and introduce price restrictions," the deputy minister recalled.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said yesterday after a meeting with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen that the two agreed that oil transit via the "Druzhba" should be resumed.