Lack of fuel to hit Hungary in two weeks?

jasonmarkramJune 17, 2022

Experts believe that even if the accident at the Schwechat refinery did not occur, there would be a shortage of fuel during the summer. As a result, Austria and Hungary last week made some of their strategic fuel reserves available for domestic consumption. However, these measures do not seem to provide a long-term solution to alleviate the problem.

Strategic fuel stockpile released

Blikk.hu Fuel consumption in July and August was 30 to 40 percent higher than in January, he said. For this reason, the temporary shutdown of the OMV refinery in Schwechat, Austria, due to an accident during regular maintenance has become a major problem. As the international press wrote, the distillation column was damaged and two workers were injured. According to the plan, the refinery will resume operations by June 10. However, the damage was enormous, and it has not yet been announced when production will resume.

This issue affects not only Hungary, but also Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland. Current,

OMV gas stations supply 17-19% of gasoline and 13-15% of diesel supply in Hungary –

hvg.hu wrote..

Therefore, Austria and Hungary last week made some of their strategic fuel reserves available for domestic consumption. Hungarian government legislation provided 18,000,000 liters of 95 gasoline and 29,000,000 liters of diesel for the OMV. However, the company must return it. 40% until August 31st, the remaining 60% until October 31st. According to the decree, the Hungarian Hydrocarbon Stockpiling Association determines the price.

MOL provides 70% of demand

Tamás Pletser, an expert in the gas and oil sector of Erste Group, said that substantive maintenance projects need to be carried out every four to five years. But the company had to postpone them because of the pandemic. Therefore, they are currently taking place all over the world at the same time.

Pletser said OMV would like to provide fuel assistance with the help of Austrian reserves. However, there is a specific order. Satisfying domestic demand is the first priority. Foreign stations can only come second. In addition, Hungary is probably at the bottom of the list, as government price caps make businesses unprofitable. After the introduction of the price cap, some fuel retailers have left Hungary and now it seems that OMV is also dropping out of the market.

The Hungarian MOL currently supplies 70% of the domestic fuel supply, but cannot exceed that level.

Brick insists.

As Hungary complies with the regulations of the EU and the International Energy Agency, it has a strategic stockpile of crude oil and petroleum products equivalent to 90 days of imports and 60 days of consumption. This means 800 million liters of gasoline and diesel. Thanks to the offer of the Hungarian government, OMV borrowed 6-7 percent of it.

There will be a big fuel shortage

July and August show two peaks in fuel consumption as everyone goes on holidays and farms are done. Due to a pandemic, about 5% of refineries have shut down. Russia attacked Ukraine when demand began to skyrocket again. As a result, the EU has implemented an embargo on Russian oil and petroleum products shipped by sea. The deadline is 6-8 months.

MOL reserves are not sufficient to meet increasing demand, Presser said.

It is not worth importing fuel into Hungary. In addition, the MOL refineries in Pozsony and Százhalombatta undergo regular maintenance in the summer and autumn.

According to data from the Hungarian Customs and Tariff Bureau, fuel demand this year is higher than in 2019, the last year before COVID. Pletser said that 12-14 years would be sufficient for the OMV reserve received from the Hungarian government. day to day.