About a quarter of gas stations in Hungary, including 100 gas stations owned by the Hungarian oil group MOL, are experiencing temporary problems with the supply of gasoline, the Telex.hu news portal reported on Tuesday, Reuters and Agerpres reported.
These temporary problems are partly due to increased demand created by the government’s decision in Budapest to cap fuel prices to reduce the impact of inflation on consumers, as well as oil group MOL’s decision to carry out maintenance work at its main refinery, which led to reduced fuel supplies.
In a press release published on its website, MOL said there were temporary problems that lasted several hours and affected about a fifth of MOL gas stations in recent days.
The MOL network in Hungary consists of approximately 500 filling stations. MOL said the introduction of a fuel price cap had led to an explosion in demand at its petrol stations, while its rivals had cut imports significantly.
The oil group added that in recent months it has supplied “to some extent” to 1,700 of the 2,000 filling stations in Hungary.
The Hungarian government also wants to keep fuel prices capped next year
MOL also said its Száhahalombatta refinery was still operating at partial capacity and that it was not yet clear when maintenance work would be completed, adding that supply problems were expected “at least this week”.
The government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán introduced fuel price caps last November, but supply problems forced the Budapest administration to reduce the caps in July so that those who drive company cars can no longer buy them. fuel at limited prices.
The Budapest government announced on Monday that Hungary will be able to maintain fuel price caps after January 1, 2023, only if Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline continue without interruption and MOL’s Sakhalombatti refinery continues to operate.
This month, Mol temporarily cut fuel supplies to some retailers after oil shipments from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline were well below normal.
Oil supplies to Central and Eastern Europe via the Druzhba pipeline were temporarily halted this month after a Russian missile hit a power station supplying electricity to a pumping station.
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