Hungary’s MOL Group is transporting crude oil produced at its co-owned oilfield, the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli in Azerbaijan, to Slovnaft Refinery in Bratislava, Report informs, citing Hungarian media.
This is a major step for the company’s efforts to increase its crude sourcing flexibility. In addition, the arrival of the Seavelvet tanker from the Port of Ceyhan in Türkiye to Omisalj in Croatia, and then transporting the 90,000 tons of crude oil to Bratislava through the Adria pipeline is a success story for MOL Group: it constitutes well-to-wheel integration of its value chain as it will process and sell petroleum products refined at one of its own refineries using crude oil produced at a field it co-owns. The shipment is transported from the Sangachal oil terminal near Baku to Ceyhan via the BTC pipeline, also co-owned by MOL Group.
Test production of petroleum products using the Azeri Light produced at the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil field – of which MOL Group owns 9.57% – will begin in April. This comes after successful testing at Slovnaft Refinery of several types of oils from the Middle East and Caspian region.
“The arrival of this shipment of Azeri Light crude oil is an extraordinary event for us, as it further demonstrates our flexibility in crude oil sourcing. It also marks a new opportunity for us to cover the entirety of the value chain in our production, from well to wheel, which is always a major accomplishment. MOL Group has a regional security supply mindset, therefore we are especially delighted to contribute to supplying the CEE region with our own crude”, pointed out Gabriel SZABÓ, Executive Vice President of Downstream at MOL Group.
“This shipment marks a milestone as it justifies once again our decision to become a major shareholder in the ACG oilfield in Azerbaijan. The capability to supply our refineries with crude sources from outside Europe gives us additional resilience during a period of rapid change. We have the flexibility to decide whether to sell our share of the oil produced at ACG or to bring it to our core region to contribute to the European energy supply security. Furthermore, it’s a great opportunity to strengthen the cooperation between MOL Group’s key divisions, Upstream and Downstream” – said Zsombor MARTON, Executive Vice President of Exploration and Production at MOL Group.
