MOL Group and Turkish Petroleum join forces to explore hydrocarbons in Hungary

MOL Group and Turkish Petroleum signed the concession agreements with the Ministry of Energy of Hungary, granting rights for joint hydrocarbon exploration in two Hungarian concession areas, Tamási and Buzsák. The joint bidding and the exploration program are the first important steps since the companies signed a strategic partnership agreement last year.

MOL and Turkish Petroleum are identifying further joint opportunities in the Caspian region, in the Black Sea area, in North Africa and in Central and Eastern Europe.

The concession agreements were signed in Budapest by Zsolt Hernádi, Chairman and CEO of the MOL Group and Ahmet Türkoğlu, Chairman and CEO of Turkish Petroleum, in the presence of Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary and Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.

The Ministry of Energy of Hungary announced new mining concessions last autumn after a five-year hiatus, citing the need to boost domestic production and reduce import exposures. MOL bid for 5 concessions and won 4 of them. For two concessions, that cover the Kiskőrös and Hatvan area, MOL bid independently, while for the Buzsák and Tamási areas (Southwest Hungary), the company bid jointly with TPOC Ltd, a subsidiary of Turkish Petroleum.

Last October, MOL Group and Turkish Petroleum signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Istanbul, in which the two companies expressed their intention to jointly participate in exploration, field development and production projects in the Caspian region, in Türkiye, North Africa and Middle East as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.

“I am proud to be signing this Concession Agreement along with our respected partner, Turkish Petroleum. Today’s ceremony is the culmination of months of hard work in which we have taken MOL and TPAO’s cooperation to a new strategic level. Beyond our close partnership, TPAO’s entry into the Hungarian upstream sector is also a vote of confidence by TPAO in the Hungarian business environment. In the turbulent geopolitical environment that surrounds us, business partnerships are more valuable than ever. We are more resilient, stronger, smarter together and we are able to mitigate investment risks better. I believe that our partnership with Turkish Petroleum will mutually strengthen the portfolio of both companies. I am also confident that this is only the first step in our enhanced partnership with TPAO – I am hoping we can announce similarly key instances of cooperation soon, including in Türkiye and in third countries.” – said Zsolt Hernádi, Chairman and CEO of the MOL Group.

“We have enjoyed a strong and long-standing partnership with MOL in Azerbaijan. Strengthened by our joint investments, this collaboration has inspired us to pursue further opportunities together. With this confidence, we took our first concrete step by signing a joint exploration agreement with MOL at two sites in Hungary. Looking ahead, we plan to leverage this positive momentum to launch new joint ventures with MOL in various regions. On this occasion, I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Zsolt Hernádi, CEO of MOL, and the entire MOL team for their valuable contributions to this tender” – said Ahmet Türkoğlu, Chairman and CEO of Turkish Petroleum.

MOL Group and Turkish Petroleum have already been cooperating in hydrocarbons exploration and production projects as joint venture partners in Azerbaijan in the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field since 2020, as well as in Russia in the Baitugan field since 2014.