Page 18 - EurOil Week 48 2020

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MOL inaugurates €10mn Sagunto, Spain on November 28 carrying the collected 65,000 tonnes of frying oil from
households and businesses, which was used
first quantities of LNG for a work trial.
polyol R&D centre filled, leased by foreign and domestic to make 240,000 tonnes of construction
The capacity of the terminal has been
bitumen.
Hungarian oil and gas company MOL companies for the next three years. 80% of The company also processes 500,000 of
has inaugurated a €10mn research and its capacity has been leased until 2027, and tyre waste annually. The company developed
development centre established at its refinery around 50% until 2035. a licensed technology to manufacture rubber
south of Budapest. bitumen for roads from old tyres.
The research facility, the most modern MOL has recently completed the
of its kind in East Central Europe, will MOL opens to circular construction of a HUF3bn rubber bitumen
develop products for MOL’s polyol plant in plant in western Hungary and announced
northeastern Hungary. The company’s €1.2bn economy by investing in a similar project in October. The company
polyol plant, the largest organic investment, is building a similar plant with Tatarstan-
will be completed by 2021. The plant with waste management based regional oil major Tatneft, at a cost of
an annual capacity of 200,000 tonnes, will $13mn. MOL also has two incinerators with
increase Ebitda by €150mn per year, MOL Hungarian oil and gas company MOL a capacity of 25,000 tonnes per year.
estimated. has weathered the pandemic due to its Hernadi said that the successful
Hungary’s largest company in terms diversified strategy, with growing weight on transformation will require significant
of revenue announced in August that it petrochemical and retail activities, chairman- investments in addition to petrochemical
has won a HUF483mn (€1.4mn) grant in CEO Zsolt Hernadi told business daily diversification.
a tender called by the National Research, Vilaggazdasag in an interview published on The company also needs to move towards
Development and Innovation Office to November 26. The company plans to exploit a circular for-profit economy and to convert
develop at least ten polyol products with the benefits of the circular economy by filling stations to service units more quickly
market potential. investing heavily in waste management, a new with digital devices. The introduction of new
The project will contribute to the key strategic area for the company. services could offset the decline in sales of
achievement of one of the MOL’s strategic MOL’s portfolio is uniquely balanced, fuel, which are expected to fall 10% this year.
goals, which is to increase the share of the which is why the company typically Hernadi’s comments came just two
petrochemical unit within the group by 2030. outperforms its competitors in dire times, days after a legal amendment submitted
The company plans to co-operate with the Hernadi said, adding that the oil industry by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen
laboratories of several Hungarian universities has been the worst-performing sector in the that would completely overhaul waste
and independent research institutions to stock market this year. management in Hungary by awarding a long-
compare and validate the results of their In the past quarters, its retail unit and term concession. The proposal would take
research. petrochemicals played a key part as demand away waste management duties from local
The experimental reactor system at the for plastic products has increased in recent governments and squeeze out all competition
centre has been supplied by thyssenkrupp months. “Our efforts to increase non-fuel by establishing a large monopoly with a
Industrial Solutions and the two companies revenues in recent years appear to be on nationwide operation.
have signed a joint R&D agreement to track,” he said. Radio Free Europe quoted Information
facilitate the entry of both companies into MOL reported an increase in Clean CSS and Technology Minister Laszlo Palkovics,
the polyol market. Ebitda from HUF114bn (€316mn) in Q2 to who reportedly informed market players
HUF184bn in Q3. about the impending changes, as having said
Full-year Ebitda could reach the higher not to regard this as nationalisation, but an
Gas from Krk LNG terminal end of its guidance range of $1.9bn, Hernadi opportunity for subcontractor work. The
budget collects HUF85bn annually from
said in the report.
to enter Croatia’s system in time high quarterly result of HUF55bn, up waste collection fee but only HUF15bn is
Consumer services reached a new all-
paid back to companies, the rest is used for
December 16% y/y. The company operates 1,933 filling other purposes. The European Union said
stations in nine countries of the region, of
this practice does not abide by the rules.
The first gas from Croatia’s floating LNG which 910 units have a Fresh Corner cafe.
(FLNG) terminal off the island of Krk is MOL is market leader in three countries.
expected to enter the country’s gas system In the future, its focus will be to adapt as best Aker Carbon Capture, MAN
in early December, according to local media it can to the fast-changing consumer trends.
reports. Waste management will become a team up in CCS tech
The terminal, with annual storage capacity strategic new area, Hernadi said in the
is 2.6bn cubic metres, is a strategic project for interview, adding that the company operates Aker Carbon Capture and MAN Energy
Croatia as it will improve security of supply one of the most complex waste management Solutions have entered into technology
for Croatia and other countries in the region. systems among Hungarian companies. cooperation to develop energy-efficient
The terminal will start commercial “We plan to standardise this system and compression solutions for carbon capture and
operation in early January, when the first integrate it more effectively into the circular storage (CCS) applications with heat recovery.
LNG vessel docks, according to a recent economy. We have the knowledge and the “The agreement supports the
statement from the LNG Croatia company. It infrastructure to do this,” he added. companies’ joint target to reduce the
connects to the national gas transport system In numbers this means that MOL operates cost of removing CO2 emissions from
through the newly built Omisalj-Zlobin some 1,000 waste collection sites, more industrial plants around the world,” the
pipeline. than any other company in Hungary and companies said in a statement.
The LNG Croatia floating storage it processes some 100-120,000 tonnes of The cooperation builds on MAN’s
regasification unit (FSRU) departed from its own waste each year. The oil company experience in compressor technology, the

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