Ljubljana - The Public Administration Ministry has picked Hungary's MOL as the priority supplier of fuel for service vehicles used by the government, urban municipalities and other institutions in a deal the news portal Necenzurirano says is valued at over EUR 25 million. As an exception public employees will also be able to fill up at Petrol and OMV.

The ministry today confirmed that MOL had been picked as the cheaper bidder, but did not disclose the sums. So far public employees filled up the tanks of their service cars at stations operated by Slovenia's Petrol and Austrian-owned OMV, whose stations are in the process of being acquired by MOL.

According to Necenzurirano, Petrol and OMV submitted a joint bid in response to an open call but their joint cost estimate was just over half a million euro above that of MOL's.

The ministry explained that even if MOL was picked as the top fuel supplier, the framework agreement set out service cars could also be filled up at stations operated by Petrol and OMV as an exception.

Public employees will have to pick MOL only if its pumps are less than 5km away from their offices or when located en route of their work trip. If the conditions are not met or in emergency cases they will fill up at Petrol and OMV pumps.

"This way we have expanded the scope of service stations and the contract is more economical," the Public Administration Ministry said.

Minister Boštjan Koritnik said public procurement rules did not permit the state to exclude a bidder owned by another country or favour a bidder just because it is owned or co-owned by Slovenia. "The rule of the thumb is cost-efficiency, as well as equal treatment of bidders." He said favouring domestic bidders would also go against EU rules.

MOL operates 53 service stations in Slovenia, which makes it the third largest retail provider. In June 2021 it signed a deal to buy a 92.25% stake in OMV Slovenija. The transaction is expected to be finalised this year when MOL will acquire another 120 service stations across the country.