Austrian Federal Minister, Reinhold Mitterlehner and his Slovakian counterpart, Lubomír Jahnátek have signed a memorandum of understanding in Bratislava to intensify the collaboration between the two countries in the oil and gas business. The planned construction of a crude oil pipeline between Bratislava and Schwechat, as envisaged in the memorandum, is of pivotal strategic importance as it closes the gap in the Trans-European pipeline network.
The Bratislava-Schwechat-Pipeline (BSP), with a length of 60 kilometers (km) and a total capacity of 2.5-5 million tons per year, will be connected with the current 3,000 km long Russian pipeline network, enabling the direct import of Russian crude oil to the Schwechat refinery.
OMV and Transpetrol, both responsible for the implementation of the pipeline project, reiterated their commitment to the project and guaranteed a rapid completion.
“OMV is a driving force behind the BSP project. This pipeline will further enhance Austria’s security of supply. We are delighted that our efforts over the past several years have led to the achievement of an agreement at the ministerial level as well,” OMV Deputy CEO and Executive Board Member responsible for Refining & Marketing, Gerhard Roiss said.
The project has been actively pushed forward by OMV since 2003. However, its realization has been delayed inter alia due to the dissolution of the Russian Yukos Group and the related lack of clarity with regard to the shareholder structure of the project partner Transpetrol (at that time 49% owned by Yukos Finance). At present, Transpetrol is wholly-owned by the Slovakian State.
During the press conference in Bratislava, Roiss stressed once again the importance of the project: “The construction of this crude oil pipeline will enable for the first time the delivery of crude oil to Austria directly from Russia. This diversification plays a pivotal role for Austria as it considerably reduces the country’s dependence on other transport systems.” Currently, the Schwechat refinery is supplied with imported crude oil from Trieste’s harbor via the Transalpine Pipeline and the Adria-Wien Pipeline. In addition, the BSP will be of strategic importance also for Slovakia as it can support the supply of the Bratislava refinery in the event of supply interruption. The transport of crude oil is planned in both directions.
Supply interruptions in the Adria-Wien Pipeline for a few days in June 2009 as a consequence of heavy rain falls and landslides in Lower Austria further demonstrate the significance of this project. In the past, supply interruptions also affected the Russian pipeline network, which supplies the Bratislava refinery. The construction of the BSP will lead to a better diversification of transport routes, which along with the planned reverse-flow will considerably enhance the security of supply of both countries.
Besides the enhancement of Austria’s security of supply, said Roiss, this gap-closing within the pipeline system will also contribute to strengthen the competitiveness of the Schwechat refinery. “This project has top priority for OMV. As soon as all necessary legal framework conditions are fulfilled by our Slovakian counterparts, I’m confident that we will be able to rapidly finalize this project with our partner Transpetrol.”
A critical remaining factor is that the approval for the 10 km long pipeline on Slovakian territory is still outstanding, while route rights for the Austrian 50 km long pipeline have already been practically secured. “We hope that this last hurdle on the Slovakian side will be overcome very soon,” concluded Roiss.