General – Testing
Last week, MOL and Janaf conducted several joint tests on the Adria crude oil pipeline, but the latest results do not yet confirm that the pipeline would be capable of delivering sufficient volumes of crude oil for Hungary and Slovakia from the Adriatic Sea in the long term.
During the tests, the pipeline was never able to operate with sufficient capacity for more than 1–2 hours.
Before the test, the parties agreed to gradually increase pressure and the number of pumps during transportation, this way reaching the maximum transport capacity and maintaining it throughout the entire duration of the test.
The goal was to jointly evaluate whether the system can operate stably at full capacity for an extended period. However, just before the test, the Croatian partner informed us that they could maintain maximum performance for only one hour before needing to reduce the pressure.
This significantly deviated from the previously agreed plan and makes it hard to objectively assess the test results. Shortly after the test began, about 30 minutes later, the Croatian partner company stopped transportation due to a power supply failure, and the system was offline for more than an hour. Even after restarting, there were disruptions, as a pressure drop also occurred during transportation on the Croatian side. The Croatian partner asked MOL to reduce pipeline pressure, allowing the Croatian section of the pipeline to operate at low pressure and performance.
