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MOL set to complete €1.3bn

polyol plant by mid-2022

HUNGARY HUNGARIAN oil and gas company MOL industry. With the investment, MOL will add
expects to complete the construction of a flag- polyols, essential components used by several
MOL plans to ship €1.3bn polyol plant in eastern Hungary in industries including the textile, furniture, the
invest $4.5bn in H2 2022; it is now 89% complete. The investment automotive and the construction sector, to its
petrochemicals by will make MOL the first integrated polyol pro- product palette.
2030. ducer in the region. Once the project is completed, MOL will be
The plant, with an annual capacity of 200,000 the only company in Hungary and the entire
tonnes, will increase Ebitda by €150mn per year, Central and Eastern European region with an
MOL estimated. integrated value chain from crude oil extraction
The polyol project is a milestone in the to the production of polyether polyol, used in the
history of the company. The construction of production of polyurethane.
a unique high-tech complex in the region will MOL plans to invest $4.5bn in petrochemi-
further strengthen the company’s position in cals until 2030.
the chemical industry, creating jobs and accel- In related news, the weight of the Hungarian
erating the transformation of the company, oil company in the regional CECE index of the
Zsombor Marton, head of MOL’s petrochem- Vienna Stock Exchange will drop by 58 bps to
icals division said. 3.02% from December 17.
The complex will produce polyol using effi- There will be no new stocks added to the
cient and environmentally friendly technologies index, which tracks Czech, Hungarian and
such as the HPPO process (propylene oxide from Polish companies, Erste Bank said in a note
hydrogen peroxide). MOL teamed up with Thys- to investors. Erste calculates that the revision
senKrupp, the main contractor of the project. could generate some selling pressure in MOL on
The company began a strategic shift five years the day the basket weights are changed. OTP’s
ago to transform its operation from the core weight is expected to rise by 7 bps to 11.73 % and
business to new areas such as the petrochemical Richter’s by 2 bps to 3.63%. ™

Montenegro denies rumours of

oil discovery by Eni-Novatek

MONTENEGRO MONTENEGRO’S capital investment minis- The consortium started the exploratory drill-
try has denied media reports of a discovery of ing in March at a depth of 6,530 metres in the sea
The pair were supposed oil and gas deposits under the seabed between between Bar and Ulcinj, and said it would last
to announce their Bar and Ulcinj by a consortium of Italy’s Eni and four and a half to six months.
result by the end of Russia’s Novatek, Mina Business reported on The drilling should determine the potential of
December. December 13. the deposit, while production could start three to
A few hours earlier, local media reported that five years after the completion of the first drilling.
the consortium had found a large quantity of In case of a positive result, the consortium’s
high-quality of oil and gas during its drilling. next step would be to start developing the drill-
“The Ministry of Capital Investments wants ing site, which would last between two and three
to deny this information, which was most likely years. Oil production could begin in 2024.
made up by circles that want to harm both the Montenegro has so far concluded two con-
concessionaires and the state of Montenegro,” cession agreements for offshore drilling in the
Mina Business quoted the ministry as saying in region of Ulcinj and Bar.
a statement. The other contract was signed in 2017 with
Eni and Novatek are supposed to announce the London-based company Energean, which
the results of the exploratory oil and gas offshore currently is looking for a partner to set up a con-
drilling in Montenegro by the end of December. sortium for the project. ™

Week 50 16•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11