MOL Group reaches historic milestone with light crude oil transport from Azerbaijan field
(WO) – MOL Group is transporting crude oil produced at its co-owned oilfield, the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli in Azerbaijan, to Slovnaft Refinery in Bratislava. This is a major step in the company’s efforts to increase its crude sourcing flexibility.
In addition, the arrival of the Seavelvet tanker from the Port of Ceyhan in Turkey 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 Middle East and Caspian region.
This is another important milestone in MOL Group’s journey toward greater crude sourcing flexibility amid European sanctions prohibiting the export of petroleum products from EU member states.
MOL Group is keen to become an increasingly important economic link between Azerbaijan and Central and Eastern Europe. In 2020, the company acquired 9.57% stake in the ACG oilfield, one of the flagship fields of the Azerbaijani economy, and 8.9 % in the BTC (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) pipeline.
“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.
MOL Group is the third largest investor in the ACG project, after BP and SOCAR. This field represents 15% of MOL Group's total production and 25% of its total reserves. The BTC pipeline has the potential to play an important role in MOL's supply of oil to MOL Group's refineries in Bratislava, Slovakia as well as Százhalombatta, Hungary.
