E.ON Földgáz Storage Zrt also bid in the tender. Sípos added that Mol won the tender by a significant point margin.
Sípos could not say how big a stake Mol will purchase in the MSzKSz Strategic Gas Reserve, remarking that this all depends on whether Mol wants to establish a reserve that is 300 million cubic meters larger than the required 1.2 billion cubic meters.
E.ON addressed a letter to Minister of Economy and Transport János Kóka requesting a delay the tender decision. The Hungarian unit of the German company has said it will provide details in this regard at a later time.
According to a Thursday announcement from MSzKSz Strategic Gas Reserve, “the board of directors asked the company’s negotiation delegation to start talks with the winning bidder in order to clarify details pertaining to such matters as unresolved technical questions raised by experts supporting the Evaluation Committee. The aim of these negotiations is to produce a contract that ensures to the greatest possible degree of secure and economical construction and operation of the reserve and to submit it to the board of directors of MSzKSz.”
Sípos said the above matters will be discussed with the board within the framework of the tender on December 4. The prequalification period of the tender closed in August. German utilities company RWE Energy also bought the tender documentation, but did not submit an offer. According to earlier information, E.ON wanted to expand its current storage capacity by 1.2 billion cubic meters. The investments will reportedly cost between Ft 100 billion-Ft 150 billion (€389 million-€584 million) not including the price of gas stored for reserve. The price also depends on other factors, such as finding sufficient cushion gas for operation.
MSzKSz must have at least 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in strategic reserve by 2010 in accordance with a new gas-reserve law in force since April.