Entering the new Millennium
The year of 2000 entered the history of SLOVNAFT by two important events.
By starting up the whole EFPA complex with the latest technology of depth oil processing, SLOVNAFT joint the most modern European refineries. From its production assortment, fuel oil was nearly completely omitted since the new installed processes enabled its reprocessing to products with a high added value, to fine motor fuels – lead-free petrol and low-sulphur diesel. This fundamentally improved the company economy.
By privatisation, technological upgrading and restructuring of the organisation and main processes, conditions were created for implementation of another SLOVNAFT´s strategic goal – integration in an international business structure and participation in the regional consolidation of oil processing. This was achieved by signing a contract on strategic partnership with the Hungarian MOL company.
In 2001, SLOVNAFT became a member of the leading Central European oil-gas MOL Group, the most rapidly expanding consortium in this industry. In such a way, SLOVNAFT provided for good prospects of dynamic development and sustainable competitiveness under conditions of globalisation in motor fuel and petrochemical markets after Slovakia’s accession to the European Union. This accession became reality in 2004 and, in this very year, SLOVNAFT turned into an integral part of the MOL Group. In the same year, a high-capacity hydrogenation of middle distillates facility (HRP 7) was put into operation and, in 2005, a new strategic polypropylene production unit (PP3) started work. Operation of HRP 7 with a daily capacity of 3 500 tonnes of deeply desulphurised diesel components substantially strengthened the position of the MOL Group on the European diesel market. The new polypropylene unit increased the previous SLOVNAFT´s production capacity more than 3.5 times and, together with the new high-density polyethylene production unit (HDPE) in TVK Tiszujváros, the petrochemical division of the MOL Group increased its annual production capacity to 1.2 mill tonnes and thus became the biggest producer of polyolephinic granulates in Central Europe.