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Mol, a leading Hungarian oil and gas company, will spend 40 billion forints (EUR 98.4 million) on oil and gas exploration in Hungary next year, said Ádám Homonnay, Mol’s Director of Research and Production, at the company’s Vecsés-2 oil well, where test production started on November 11.
As Hungary Today reported earlier, Mol announced a week ago that it had discovered a significant amount of oil at a depth of 2,100 meters on the outskirts of Vecsés, near Budapest, after the successful completion of exploration wells that began in July. The new well was put into operation on November 11 and thanks to the HUF 2 billion (EUR 4.9 million) investment, it is now producing 100 cubic meters (almost 600 barrels) of oil a day, which is transported daily to the Danube Refinery.
Ádám Homonnay said they expected the reserves to provide 15 years of service for the well, which is about 30 kilometers from the largest extraction site.
According to the research director of Mol, the oil from the new well in Vecsés is of high quality, high density, solid at 35-36 degrees Celsius, and since the oil has no gas content, the environmental impact of production is minimal.
The Hungarian oil company has previously announced that it will spend HUF 200 billion (EUR 492 million) over the next five years to boost its oil and gas exploration. Around 60-65 percent of this will be for natural gas, 20-25 percent for oil, and the remainder for the safe maintenance and replacement of infrastructure.
The new well is much needed in an economic environment marked by the energy crisis.
Although Hungary is largely supplied with fuel by Mol, there are some disruptions in the supply chain, especially in small petrol stations. The situation is not helped by the fact that Mol’s Danube Refinery is currently not operating at full capacity due to maintenance works.
Because of this, and the disruption to the supply of the Ukrainian Friendship pipeline, there are growing warnings that there could be a fuel shortage in Hungary, as exemplified by the increasing number of Hungarian petrol stations being emptied, even Mol’s. In addition, Mol is temporarily unable to supply fuel to many small petrol stations, but the Hungarian company has appealed to the public in order to avoid panic buying.
Featured photos via MTI/Szigetváry Zsolt