The MOL company’s three oil refineries in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia are operating at reduced capacity due to lower demand caused by the pandemic, Zsolt Hernadi CEO of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL said.
The refineries operate at around 70 % capacity and all efforts are made in order to avoid temporary shutdowns.
Hernadi said that MOL’s fuel sales dropped by around 40 %, depending on the country. The drop is far larger in case of petrol, while diesel sales suffered less. MOL had to temporarily close 28 petrol stations in Hungary due to lower demand.
Last week, MOL’s Board MOL decided to put all of last year’s profit into retained earnings, therefore no dividend will be paid for 2019. The company is placing all of last year’s profit into retained earnings, in line with short-term efforts focusing on cash preservation and retaining maximum flexibility. Once the situation normalizes and circumstances allow for it, these retained earnings may be used for cash dividend distribution upon the decision of shareholders. The company also said that it is withdrawing its guidance for 2020 EBITDA because of uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic, the extreme volatility of the external environment and the unpredictability of volumes development across its businesses. 2020 CAPEX will be at least 25 % lower than the original guidance of between 1.9 and 2.1 billion dollars. It could even fall below 1.5 billion dollars because of the delay of non-essential investments and supply chain bottlenecks caused by lockdowns.
