Serious fuel shortage expected in Hungary from next week: here are the details

It has been a busy week for the fuel market. Based on the oil price and the forint exchange rate, the market price of fuel may decrease. However, many wells are not served at all by MOL, so fuel shortages are possible. As of Monday, 21 November, a total of 28 municipalities in Hungary are at risk of running out of fuel.

As reported by Vezess.hu, from 21 November, Monday, MOL will leave around 250 petrol stations without fuel. Although the state-owned oil company says this is a temporary situation, it will also put out-of-network petrol stations in a difficult situation, which could jeopardise the supply of fuel to smaller towns.

Fuel shortage expected in these settlements

Index has obtained a list of municipalities where fuel shortages could occur. The list was clear after MOL’s announcement from the Independent Petrol Stations Association (Független Benzinkutak Szövetsége, FBSZ):

Aba, Baja, Bakonycsernye, Balassagyarmat, Berettyóújfalu, Berhida, Besenyőtelek, Demecser, Fehérvárcsurgó, Gödöllő, Gyöngyös, Hajdúböszörmény, Hercegszántó, Kiskunfélegyháza, Lajosmizse, Molnaszecsőd, Nagytarcsa, Nyírbogdány, Nyíregyháza-Sóstófürdő, Nyírkárász, Nyírpazony, Pörböly, Pusztaszabolcs, Sárszentmihály, Szászvár, Szentantalfa, Szigetszentmárton és Tápióbicske.

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Minimal amounts of fuel allowed

In recent days, several independent petrol stations have reduced the amount of fuel one can buy at the official price to a minimum, Vezess.hu writes. In Balassagyarmat, for example, there is a station where you can buy one litre. The reason for this is that operators are losing millions of forints a month due to the fuel price freeze.

This is a significant price difference. While the official price for private individuals, taxis and agricultural vehicles is HUF 480 (EUR 1.18), the market price is significantly higher.

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The market price of fuel is decreasing

Holtankoljak.hu reports that fuel prices could fall further next week. This is based on the fact that the price of Brent oil fell by 8 percent this week, from USD 95 to USD 87.

It has not been an uneventful week, as napi.hu writes. The missile hitting Poland, the damage to the Friendship pipeline and the lifting of the Covid rules by China have also had an impact on oil prices. Although, in the short term, they have tended to push up prices. The forint also saw some fluctuations. However, the difference between the beginning and the end of the week was only 1-2 forints. The current exchange rate is 393-394 forints to the dollar.

This week, the average price of 95-litre petrol and diesel fell in two stages, to 667 and 732 forints per litre, respectively.

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Source: vezess.hu, index.hu, napi.hu