Transpetrol, A.S. (Slovakia)

Transpetrol, a.s. is a relatively young oil pipeline company located in Bratislava, Slovakia. Its historical roots are connected to the construction of the transit pipeline Družba, its southern branch, which came from the territory of the former Soviet Union, through Belarus and Ukraine, to former Czechoslovakia. The Slovak section of the Družba pipeline, from the Ukrainian border through Šahy to Bratislava, was built between 1960 and 1961. The first oil was transported through the Družba pipeline to the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava in February 1962. The next stage of the Družba pipeline construction, completed in 1968, focused on intensifying the pipeline system by doubling the pipeline route, significantly increasing the transport capacity, operational reliability, and safety of the central transit corridor of the pipeline. In 1980, the Adria pipeline was put into operation, which starts from the Croatian port of Omišalj on the Adriatic Sea coast, passes through Hungary, and ends in Šahy, Slovakia, where it connects to the Družba pipeline. It became part of the former Czechoslovak oil pipeline system, and its operation created important conditions for diversifying oil supply and further opportunities to enter new oil markets. After the change in socio-political and economic conditions in former Czechoslovakia, on July 1, 1991, the original oil pipeline system was transferred to the Czechoslovak joint-stock company Transpetrol, a.s., which took on the role of operating the entire oil pipeline network in the Czechoslovak territory. After the division of Czechoslovakia and the creation of two separate states, the joint-stock company was also divided into two separate companies. In the Czech Republic, MERO ČR, a joint-stock company, was established, and in Slovakia, on January 1, 1993, a joint-stock company with the original name Transpetrol, a.s., was created.