CAPITAL: BRATISLAVA
MONETARY UNIT: KORUNA
REFINING CAPACITY: 115,000 B/CD
OIL PRODUCTION: 1,000 B/D
OIL RESERVES: 9 MILLION BBL
GAS RESERVES: 530 BCF

Hungary's MOL Rt. agreed to buy 36.2% of Slovnaft AS, Slovakia's sole refiner and largest petroleum products retailer, for $262 million.

MOL said the deal would make it a leading marketer in the region. It would hold Hungary's 161,000 b/d Szazhalombatta refinery, Slovakia's 115,000 b/d Bratislava refinery, and service stations from both companies in Ukraine, Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic.

The merger was the first cross-border consolidation of two former East Bloc petroleum firms.

Additional purchase options after 2 years would give MOL the opportunity to acquire 50% plus one share of Slovnaft.

Prior to the deal, Slovnaft was jointly owned by a group led by Stovintegra AS with 51%, which Slovnaft management and employees controlled. The rest was held by Bank of New York with 10.5%, Slovbena AS 5.8%, and others 32.7%.

The Bratislava refinery was upgraded during 1998-99 at a cost of $500 million to meet European Union air quality regulations reducing the sulfur content of fuels.

Five companies signed an agreement in October 2000 to develop a project to link the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Slovakia.

The 600-km line could carry 60 billion cu m/year of gas, said ENI SPA.

The Yamal-Europe pipeline moved gas from the Yamal Peninsula region of western Siberia through Belarus and Poland and into eastern Germany, where it connected with the Western Europe gas grid.

The proposed line would extend through Belarus and Poland to reach Slovakia. There, it would connect with other pipelines serving Italy, France, and Germany.

The group studying the project included Snam, a unit of ENI, Russian gas company Gazprom, Gaz de France, and the German companies Ruhrgas AG and Wintershall AG.