Hungarian oil and gas company MOL pledged to spend 40 billion forints (close to 100 million euros) on domestic oil and gas exploration next year, after the company discovered a significant amount of oil earlier this month.
The field started producing an initial 600 barrels per day (bpd) on 11 November, with plans to raise output to 700-1,000 bpd. The discovery could increase the crude oil production of MOL Hungary by 10 per cent and the country’s oil output by 5 per cent. The new oil well is now MOL’s third biggest in Hungary, which supplies directly the Dunube Refinery in Százhalombatta.
Ádám Homonnay, MOL’s Director of Research and Production said they expected the reserves to provide 15 years of service for the well, which is about 30 kilometers from the largest extraction site. He added that the oil from the new well in Vecsés is of high quality, high density, solid at 35-36 degrees Celsius, and since the oil has no gas content, the environmental impact of production is minimal.
Over the next five years, MOL plans to invest almost 200 billion forints (490 million euros) in the development of Hungarian crude oil and natural gas production, with 60-65 per cent for natural gas, 20-25 per cent for crude oil, and the rest for the maintenance and replacement of the infrastructure.
After oil supplies from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline towards Hungary fell below normal levels, MOL – which owns the largest network of service stations in Hungary – temporarily curbed fuel deliveries to some retailers.
The Hungarian government introduced the fuel price cap in November 2021 to shield Hungarian consumers from surging inflation but was forced to narrow its scope in July because of supply problems. The government now said they can only keep the price cap beyond 1 January if oil shipments from Russia flow without interruption and oil and gas group MOL’s refinery in Szazhalombatta operates continuously.
