Fuel will become 25-30 percent more expensive for a lot of people in Hungary from January 2023

Attila Holoda, an expert in energetics, said that the government would not be able to uphold its fuel price cap scheme from January 2023. Below you may read why.

Mr Holoda is a former secretary of state for energetics under the Orbán government. He told mfor.hu yesterday that the government’s fuel price cap scheme will be abolished soon because it leads to supply challenges and it is unsustainable.

Holoda said that the reason behind supply shortages is the lack of imports. Except for MOL, the Hungarian fuel and energy giant, no companies import fuel from abroad because of the price caps. Furthermore, there are problems with the Hungarian enterprise’s refinery in Százhalombatta. Urgent maintenance works need to be carried out in the facility, so there is not enough capacity for sufficient production.

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Furthermore, the EU’s new embargo on Russian oil, entering into force on 5 December, forbids countries to trade with fuels produced from Russian oil. In the case of MOL, that means they would not be able to use the fuel made in their Bratislava (Pozsony) refinery. The Hungarian company has two refineries in the EU. The one in Hungary produces mainly diesel, while the other in Bratislava specialises in gasoline. The new EU sanction means that MOL will not be able to transport gasoline from Slovakia to Hungary from Monday.

That is probably why the association of independent fuel stations in Hungary and even the MOL suggested the government revoke the price cap scheme.

Mandiner.hu, a government close media outlet, concludes that the question is not whether the scheme is sustainable but how long Hungarian private individuals (and Hungarian taxi drivers) can refill their tanks for the preferential HUF 480 (EUR 1.17) per litre.

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Source: mandiner.hu, mfor.hu