Refiner MOL complains to EU over Croatian pipeline fees

BUDAPEST, March 13 (Reuters) - Hungarian refiner MOL MOLB.BU said on Friday it and subsidiary Slovnaft had filed a complaint with the European Commission over Croatian pipeline operator JANAF's pricing policy.

It follows a complaint MOL filed last week with the EU's competition watchdog over JANAF's refusal to deliver Russian crude to MOL and its Slovak subsidiary.

An outage since January on the Druzhba pipeline delivering Russian oil via Ukraine has left landlocked Hungary and Slovakia reliant on oil supply via JANAF.

"JANAF has consistently applied abusive pricing practices," MOL said in its latest complaint, adding its orders by volume had increased by one and a half times while JANAF's fees had nearly doubled.

"The fee increases imposed by JANAF are excessive compared to its costs and cannot be objectively justified."

Janaf did not immediately to a request for comment.

Hungary and Slovakia hold exemptions to EU restrictions on Russian oil imports.

MOL is allowed to source Russian seaborne crude if the Druzhba pipeline is inoperable, the company has said.

Croatia has expressed its willingness to help supply crude, but has baulked at sending Russian crude via the JANAF's pipeline.