Fuel will be Europe’s most expensive in Hungary?

The next phase of sanctions on Russian refined oil products set to take effect in a few days will have a big impact on Europe’s diesel market, a cabinet parliamentary state secretary has warned. József Balogh, an energy market expert, told ATV that the result could be a horrific fuel price rise in Hungary.

“I have a good story. I saw space for four digits on a fuel station two days ago”, József Balogh, an energy market expert, told ATV. He argued that there are fuel station owners in Hungary who think about a drastic price rise on the market. Four digits would mean prices above 1,000 HUF/l (EUR 2.56). However, Mr Balogh believes that such an increase is currently unrealistic. “Prices go down, but nobody sees the future”, he added.

He argued that the government destroyed Hungary’s fuel market with the fuel price cap. He also highlighted that fuel prices are high because of the government’s so-called “Robin Hood tax” on fuel products, which the Orbán administration increased to 41 percent. Moreover, the weakening of the forint also affected the prices in that segment, ATV wrote.

Balogh said the EU would not buy oil from Russia from 5 February but suggested that the community will buy the same relabeled Russian oil from Turkey. That is because the EU has no choice: it lacks 1.5 million barrels of diesel every day.