Despite another rise in world crude oil prices, Slovnaft President Slavomír Hatina does not foresee it denting the company's investment plans. The country's largest oil and gas refinery is continuing with its plan to invest 5 billion Sk this year, 11.3 billion Sk next year and 6 billion Sk in 1998, Hatima said.
The crude oil price rise did affect Slovnaft's expenses and will cut into its projected pre-tax income, though, Hatima conceded. Slovnaft's expenditures for oil purchases were more than 3 billion Sk above original projections for the the first nine months of this year, as the company processed 3.8 million tons of crude oil (5.1 million is expected for the whole year). Slovnaft had 12.4 billion Sk in sales, of which 52.2 percent came from exports for the first nine months, but Hatina said it will most likely not make a planned pre-tax income of 2.4 billion Sk in 1996.
