Reuters reported on Wednesday that Slovakia has been granted a year-long exemption which will allow it to export fuel to the Czech Republic which the nation’s oil refinery Slovnaft, refined from Russian crude.

Brussels had imposed an embargo on seaborne oil supplies to members of the EU which left only deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline allowed. The embargo was expanded in February to include oil refined products as well.

Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Hungary however, received exemptions which allowed them to import crude oil from Russia and export refined products made from it. On December 5th, the exemption which allowed the Czech Republic to import products which were produced from Russian crude expired.

Slovnaft, an affiliate of the Hungarian energy company MOL Group, has said it intends to eliminate its use of Russian crude, however it requires more time to accomplish that.

Bulgaria refines its Russian crude at the Burgas refinery, which is owned by the Russian energy major Lukoil. A bill which would ban the export of products which originated from Russian-origin crude in spite of the EU exemption has advanced through the first stage in the Bulgarian parliament earlier this week. It is expected that the bill will be enacted as early as next month. The government also, starting the first of March, banned imports of Russian crude for refining.

Previously Lukoil has said that due to the “discriminatory laws and other unfair, biased political decisions” relating to the Burgas refinery, it was going to review its business operations in Bulgaria, including looking at the sale of assets.

Although many EU nations have also eliminated their purchases of Russian natural gas, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic still import it.

Earlier this year, Bulgaria ignited a row with neighboring Hungary by enacting a tax on the transit of Russian gas. Hungary, which is dependent on the gas, immediately cited the tax as a threat to its energy security. For that reason, Budapest threatened recently, to veto the entry of Bulgaria into the Schengen area, making Hungary’s assent to their entry dependent on Sofia eliminating the tax.