Jadranski Naftovod has repeated the testing of the oil pipeline from the Sisak Terminal to the Hungarian border, confirming that its capacity exceeds the needs of the MOL oil company and that the possible addition of drag-reducing agents can ensure a pipeline capacity of 13-16.4 million tonnes annually.

The Jadranski Naftovod (JANAF) oil pipeline operator said in a statement on Saturday that the pipeline’s transportation capacity was tested again this month in coordination with representatives of the MOL Group, on the section from the Sisak Terminal to the border with Hungary.

“The results of the test rerun have shown that the pipeline capacity exceeds the total annual processing capacity of MOL’s refineries in Hungary and Slovakia. The test confirmed that with the possible addition of drag-reducing agents (DRA) the said section can reach a capacity of 13-16.4 million tonnes annually, depending on the number of pumps employed on both sides,” the Croatian oil pipeline operator said.

“The test has confirmed JANAF’s readiness to fully ensure, as of tomorrow, the supply of both refineries owned by the MOL Group as well as the guarantees given to the Croatian government and the European Commission. JANAF is a safe and reliable partner to all users of its oil transportation and storage system and continually invests in the improvement of its transportation and storage services so as to meet its partners’ needs,” the company’s management said.

JANAF has had contracts on oil transportation with the MOL Group on a continual basis for 12 years and has supplied crude oil to two MOL refiners – the Szashalombatta Refinery near Budapest, which has a processing capacity of 8.1 million tonnes annually, and the Bratislava Refinery, which has a capacity of 6 million tonnes annually.

Objections from Hungary have been sent to Croatia and JANAF on several occasions lately, and earlier this month Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called Croatia an unreliable transit country, claiming, among other things, that since the start of the war in Ukraine, Croatia had increased the oil transit fees to five times the average market fee, thus making it impossible for MOL to contract long-term deliveries and failing to make investments necessary to increase the pipeline capacity.

Both JANAF and the Croatian Economy Ministry dismissed his claims, stressing that JANAF can fully meet the needs for crude oil of the MOL Group’s refineries in Bratisava and Budapest.

The company also dismissed allegations that the MOL Group cannot conclude a multiannual contract as well as the allegation that JANAF has increased its fees over the past three years.

In all business relations with the users of its transportation and storage system, in calculating the transportation fees JANAF uses a verified methodology that ensures equal treatment for all clients and is not related to legal entities but to specific pipeline sections, of which MOL is aware, JANAF said.