MOL, CEZ Establish Power Sector JV

CM European Power International, a joint venture between Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and Czech power generator CEZ, has been established in line with the initial strategic alliance agreement signed by the two companies in December 2007. The joint venture company will have an initial capital outlay of E8.3 million.

The equal-stake joint venture (JV) in which each party has equal voting rights and equal responsibility for operational decision making, will focus on gas-fired power generation and related gas infrastructure in four countries of central and southeastern Europe, including Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia.

The first major investment is the planned construction of combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) at the MOL refineries in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Szazhalombatta, Hungary. The installed capacity at each location will be 800MW.

Additionally, in Bratislava, the existing thermal plant will be modernized and its capacity increased to 160MW. The expected investment cost in both projects will be approximately E1.4 billion.