Important change at MOL petrol stations: this concerns everyone

Whether or not one is entitled to the official price, one can only fill up one’s car once a day at MOL. So whether you fill up at the official price or the market price, you can only do so once per day per car.

MOL justified this new rule by the need to secure the country’s fuel supply. According to the Independent Petrol Stations Association, this rule is impossible to enforce in practice.

Only one fill-up per day on both prices

Since the beginning of the summer, staff at petrol stations have been checking whether the car has Hungarian registration plates, and more recently whether it is owned by a private person. If these two conditions are met, only then can we fill up at the official price of HUF 480 (EUR 1.22).

MOL told RTL Híradó that the restriction applies to all types of fuel at the company’s petrol stations. This means that if you would want to fill up more than once a day on the market price, you still would not be able to do that.

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The rule is impossible to enforce

According to the Independent Petrol Stations Association, this rule is impossible to enforce in practice. “If someone just filled up and then goes into the station to pay, shows the registration and it turns out that they have already filled up at another Mol station that day, what are they going to do? Will they pump the fuel out of the car?” asks László Gépész, board member of the Independent Petrol Stations Association.

MOL also wrote that the purpose of the restriction was to “ensure the country’s supply and to ensure that everyone has access to fuel”. “The beneficiaries of the official price are not determined by MOL but by legislation.” MOL also clarified in response to a question from RTL Híradó that scooters without a registration can be refuelled at the official price. The site also contacted the government, but they did not respond to their questions.

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Is the restriction illegal?

According to Gépész, this restriction can be considered illegal. He is not aware of any examples of this elsewhere, writes rtl.hu. In addition, there is no possibility in the legislation for a petrol station to decide for itself that those who are entitled to officially priced fuel are not given it. However, he thinks it is possible that a quantity limit will be introduced in many places, and in fact, many places already have one.

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Lukoil’s quantitative limits

The amount of fuel that can be filled in one transaction is now capped at all Lukoil stations. At low-pressure pumps, the maximum is 20 litres at a time and at high-pressure pumps, the maximum is 150 litres.

“Since the introduction of the official price, the 79 Lukoil filling stations in Hungary have continued to operate in compliance with the legislation in force,” Normbenz Magyarország Kft., the owner and operator of the network, told VG.hu, but said it is continuously examining the possibility of suspending the operation of some units.