Hungarian oil and gas company MOL announced that it has started restarting unaffected units at its Danube refinery after a major overnight fire. Fire crews remain on-site as safety inspections continue. The company confirmed that the fire is now under control, the area has been secured, and an investigation has been launched to determine the cause and evaluate the damage. No injuries have been reported.
Witnesses said an explosion occurred shortly before the fire broke out. The Danube refinery, one of Hungary’s main oil processing facilities, has experienced technical incidents in the past — including one in July when a malfunction caused heavy smoke from excess gas flaring. Hungarian media noted that this fire happened just hours after an explosion at Lukoil’s refinery in Ploiesti, Romania. MOL’s refinery processes Russian crude oil delivered through the Druzhba pipeline, while Lukoil’s Ploiesti facility, with an annual capacity of 2.5 million barrels, is among Romania’s largest energy sites.
MOL stated that its immediate priority is to maintain a stable fuel supply within Hungary and to assess whether drawing from the country’s strategic oil reserves will be necessary. The full operational impact of the incident is still being assessed. The fire originated in the AV3 crude distillation unit, which supplies feedstock to other production lines at the refinery. This unit represents about 40% of the refinery’s total capacity, meaning that output could be disrupted for several months. MOL may request government approval to tap into national fuel reserves to stabilize the domestic market.
As of late September, Hungary’s crude oil and derivative reserves were sufficient to cover 96 days of consumption. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said he had spoken with MOL’s leadership and reassured the public that the country’s fuel supply remains secure. He also pledged a thorough investigation into the cause of the fire.
Operational since 1965, the Danube refinery has an annual processing capacity of 8.1 million tons of crude oil. Alongside MOL’s Slovak refinery, it relies primarily on Russian crude supplied through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline. Following news of the incident, MOL’s shares fell by 1.7%.
