March 21 (SeeNews) - Hungarian oil group MOL said it has started shipping crude from a field in Azerbaijan to its refinery in Slovakia via the Adria pipeline operated by Croatian company Janaf [ZSE: JNAF], as its priority is to increase the flexibility of oil procurement, Hungarian media reported.
“The 90,000 tonnes of seaborne crude has arrived in Croatia and is being delivered to the Slovnaft refinery via the Adria pipeline,” media outlet Daily News Hungary quoted MOL as saying in a press release on Monday.
By the time this story was published MOL has not replied to a SeeNews email seeking details of the operation.
“This is another important milestone in Slovnaft’s and MOL Group’s journey toward greater crude sourcing flexibility amid European sanctions prohibiting the export of petroleum products from EU member states,” MOL Group said, according to Daily News Hungary.
So far, MOL has been delivering crude to the Bratislava refinery via the Druzhba oil pipeline, one of the world’s largest. Druzhba, with a capacity to flow 2 million barrels per day, is supplying Russian oil to much of central Europe including Germany, Poland, Belarus, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.
“MOL continues to import Russian Export Blend via the Druzhba pipeline, as it is convinced that the best way to guarantee the security of the fuel supply in the Central and Eastern European region is to keep traditional supply channels intact while exploring and securing alternative ones,” it added.
In January, Janaf said it signed two contracts for crude oil transportation and storage with MOL for the first quarter of 2023.
Janaf’s shares last traded on Monday on the Zagreb bourse, when they closed 5.19% lower at 730 euro ($787).
($ = 0.927 euro)