Croatian state-owned oil transportation company JANAF said that it has signed two contracts for crude oil transportation and storage with Hungarian oil and gas company MOL.
The first contract envisages the transportation of 500,000 tons of crude oil from the terminal in Omisalj to Croatian border with Hungary. According to the second contract, MOL has leased oil storage capacity of almost 150,000 cubic meters at JANAF’s terminals in Omisalj and Sisak.
Last month, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto accused JANAF of trying to impose exorbitant oil transit fees for 2023 and requested that the European Commission prescribe JANAF’s transit fees, which an unusual request since JANAF can independently decide on tariffs, not even consulting Croatian energy regilator HERA. The current capacity of JANAF pipeline towards Hungary is 11.8 million tons, and the refinery in Hungary has a processing capacity of 8.1 million tons. Therefore, Croatia can satisfy Hungarian needs, but not those of its neighboring countries. Hungary needs 7.5 million tons of oil per year, Slovakia 6 million tons and the Czech Republic 8 million tons per year.
JANAF operates 631 kilometers of oil pipeline in Croatia and owns several oil terminals, with total storage capacity of 1.94 million cubic meters of oil and 220,000 cubic meters of petroleum products.
