Hungarian oil and gas company MOL announced that it will stop delivering petrol and diesel as of next week to small petrol stations with which it has signed fuel delivery contracts after the Government decided to freeze fuel prices last year. The company justifies the decision by wanting to maintain the security of supply.
The temporary measure introduced by MOL is indefinite, but the company said that it will review the situation in the market on a weekly basis.
According to the President of the Hungarian Independent Petrol Stations’ Association Gabor Egri, MOL’s decision means that the security of fuel supply in the country has effectively collapsed. He said that Hungarian crude oil reserves are sufficient for 34 days and those of fuel for 30 days, which is significantly lower than 90 days mandated by the law. He said that some 251 petrol stations throughout the country have received the notice from MOL on the cessation of fuel deliveries. Egri said that he believes that the Government’s decision to cap fuel prices has led to such dire situation in the market.
According to him, these stations represent about 30 % of the Hungarian retail fuel market. On the other hand, MOL claims that these restrictions would affect only 10 % of the market.
