Who is responsible for the fuel price panic in Romania and Hungary?

Earlier this week, panic broke out due to concerns of rapidly rising fuel prices in our neighbouring country, Romania. The Romanian Minister of Energy blamed the Hungarian-owned company’s local branch, MOL Romania, for the chaotic situation in Romania.

According to Hvg, panic broke out over fuel prices going up from 7-8 lei (~€ 1.5-1.6) to 10-11 lei (~€ 2-2.2) on Wednesday. The news about the price increase has spread like wildfire on social media and later on online news outlets, wreaking havoc among many people.

During the afternoon and evening, queues of hundreds of metres formed at several gas stations all over the country. However, due to the panic, many drivers did not only fill their car’s fuel tanks but filled up jerry cans and other large-volume containers.

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Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said to Digi24 that the panic was caused by MOL Romania since, apart from a few small retailers, they were the only large company that significantly raised fuel prices.

Hvg wrote that the local news portal ebihoreanul.ro from Bihar contacted the owner of a gas station that is partnered with MOL. The owner told the news outlet that he was only able to purchase fuel for 8.6 lei (~€ 1.74) from MOL’s depot on Wednesday, 1 lei more than on the day before. He also added that he heard news that procurement prices would be over 10 lei (~€ 2) the next day.

In contrast, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has decided to increase oil production by 10%, decreasing fuel prices on the global market.