Austria and Slovakia are to co-operate more on energy issues under the terms of an agreement signed by the two countries' energy ministers Friday.
The agreement, inked by Slovakian Economy Minister Lubomir Jahnatek and Austrian Economy Minister Reinhold Mitterlehner, means the two countries will pursue a number of projects to increase the security of energy supplies for both.
The first and most important project is the construction of a crude oil pipeline between Slovakia's capital Bratislava and the oil refinery outside Vienna, Austria's capital, owned by Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI). The 60 kilometer Bratislava-Schwechat pipeline will transport crude oil from the Russian Druzhba Pipeline to Austria, and in the event of a halt in Russian supplies, can also transport oil the opposite way, the ministers said Friday.
"We have formalized and expanded an already good co-operation between our two countries on energy issues," Mitterlehner said, citing the gas dispute in January between Ukraine and Russia as showing the need for a cross-border strategy to overcome supply shortages.