“You have thousands of kilometers of the Druzhba pipeline system and then there’s a piece missing that you can hardly see on a map,” said Gerhard Roiss, OMV’s head of refining and marketing.
He added that the pipeline will “be very important for the security of supply for both countries”, as it will let crude to be pumped in both directions.
Since 2003, OMV has been trying to close the gap in its pipeline system to spread supplies and gain better access to Russian crude. It now depends on shipments through Trieste, in Italy.
Druzhba oil pipeline was constructed to supply former communist countries with oil from Russia. It brings oil from eastern Russia, terminating at the border between Austria and Slovakia.
OMV had to discard the pipeline project after Slovakia’s partner in the project, Yukos, was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2004.
In March 2009, Slovakia agreed to buy back the minority stake formerly held by Yukos, opening the way for a second effort to conclude the project.
“The final decision lies with Slovakia,” Roiss said, adding he was hopeful of a positive decision before the end of 2009.
Construction would last for a year so that “the first oil could flow in 2010 or 2011,” he said.
Roiss said that there is a possibility it may procure oil from Surgutneftegaz (Surgut), the Russian producer which agreed to buy a 21% stake in MOL Group (MOL) from OMV earlier in 2009.
“There are many Russian suppliers and Surgut is one of those,” said Roiss.
Surgut paid EUR1.4 billion ($1.9 billion) for the stake in MOL and has said it wants to develop its business in central Europe.
