MOL, Slovnaft To Invest EUR80 Million In Adria Oil Pipeline-Agency

Hungarian oil and gas company MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) and its Slovakian unit Slovnaft (SLN.BS) will spend about EUR80 million to modernize the Adria oil pipeline that runs between the two countries, Hungarian state news agency MTI cited Slovnaft as saying Tuesday.

The investment will significantly boost crude pipeline capacity between Slovakia and Hungary, Slovnaft spokesman Anton Molnar said in Bratislava.

The cost of the project will come mainly from private capital, he added.

The Adria pipeline, completed in 1979, runs between MOL's refinery in Szazhalombatta and Slovakia's Sahy. The pipeline runs further south from Szazhalombatta, connecting MOL's refinery with the port of Omisalj in Croatia.

After the renovation is completed, the pipeline will deliver some 6 million metric tons of crude oil to Slovakia a year, about the same as Slovnaft's refining capacity.

Slovnaft also said Tuesday that it signed a EUR60 million, three-year contract with Transpetrol, the Slovak operating company for the Druzhba pipeline, for the delivery of 17 million metric tons of crude through the Adria pipeline in 2011-2013.

-By Veronika Gulyas, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]