MOL to Stop Fuel Deliveries to Small Gas Stations
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Hungarian oil and gas company MOL will not deliver gasoline and diesel next week to small refueling stations with which it signed a supplier contract after the introduction of the gas price freeze this spring, RTL reports.
MOL justified the decision by saying that it wanted to maintain the security of supply.
The temporary restrictions are indefinite, but MOL will review its supply strategy on a weekly basis, according to the report.
According to Gábor Egri, President of the Independent Gas Stations' Association, MOL's decision essentially means that the security of fuel supply in Hungary has collapsed.
"The domestic oil reserve is sufficient for 34 days and the fuel reserve for 30 days, i.e. for less than the 90 days required by law," the expert said, adding that some 251 gas station operators had received MOL's letter about the cessation of deliveries.
These companies sometimes operate several stations, so they provided 30% of Hungary's fuel supply and therefore represented a significant share of the Hungarian fuel market, he said.
MOL's statement, on the other hand, said that the suspension of supplies would affect about 10% of all refueling stations in Hungary.
Egri warned that queues and long waiting times at Hungarian pumps were to be expected, with the biggest problems in rural areas where people would sometimes have to travel considerably further to get fuel. The expert argued that the current situation is clearly caused by the price cap imposed by the government.
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