The Austrian company cannot restart its Schwechat refinery as scheduled after regular maintenance work involving the shutdown of the plant.

OMV may not be able to supply its own petrol stations with fuel in the near future. Market players say that additional government interventions will be necessary to resolve supply shortages, that is, imports must somehow be restored, Hungarian portal Vilaggazdasag writes, citing industrial sources. The Austrian oil company’s refinery at Schwechat is one of the largest in Central Europe. It was shut down for regular maintenance in April 2022. The operation was due to be completed on 31 May and production was scheduled to resume on 10 June, but technical difficulties have arisen, necessitating several more weeks of work to restart the facility.

Vilaggazdasag writes that OMV has not officially informed MOL and its other partners about the problem. The company expects help from the Austrian government, including making available a part of the strategic resources, the paper writes. The fuels produced in the Schwechat plant are sold by OMV in Austria and Central Europe countries nearby.

It is estimated that between June and August, the company would export some 30 kilotonnes of petrol and 50 kilotonnes of diesel oil a month to Hungary. With that, OMV’s market share is 17-19 per cent in case of petrol and 13-15 per cent for diesel. The company operates some 200 petrol stations in Hungary. If OMV cannot supply its own stations with fuel, it may lead to supply problems.

It will not help if the refinery is restarted with a delay, as Hungary has to import diesel oil to satisfy demands on its domestic market. The annual consumption is about 10-15 per cent larger than the country’s total refinery capacity.

After retail fuel prices were maximised in Hungary at 480 forints (1.22 euros), while both petrol and diesel are significantly more expensive across Europe, it is understandable that foreign suppliers are not interested in serving the Hungarian market. This has caused a decline in imports. The market share of the Hungarian oil company MOL, which had been 70 per cent, rose above 80 per cent by spring. OMV was the only company which maintained product imports to Hungary. If it ceases, MOL will not be able to make up for the missing quantity. The paper recalls that

the pressure on MOL was somewhat relieved after the government introduced a dual fuel price in Hungary, one for residents and another for foreigners, to suppress fuel tourism. Summer holidays, however, are about to begin, with the turnover of petrol stations increasing significantly in the touristic season. MOL likely postponed its mandatory maintenance operations largely for that reason. The refinery at Szazhalombatta, Hungary will be partially stopped for that overdue maintenance for the months of August and October. This, however means that fuel production will decrease to a third in August.

There is no solution yet to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies for the above-mentioned two months, the sources interviewed by the paper said.

The situation, however, will lead to supply disturbances not only in Hungary but also in Slovakia. The Slovakian refinery is an especially important part of regional supply, as it not only satisfies domestic demand, but sells diesel fuel to Hungarian, Czech, Austrian and south-Polish buyers. OMV, however, is the sole supplier of fuel to its Slovakian petrol stations. The country consumes an annual 2 million kilotonnes of diesel, with 350 tonnes, that is, on average about 30 kilotonnes per month covered by imports from Austria. The same figure for petrol is 550 kilotonnes per year, with 80-90 kilotonnes, or a monthly 8 kilotonnes, imported from Austria.

Slovakia is the only country in the region which produces more diesel oil than its domestic consumption, with the surplus used to partially make up for missing quantities is Austria, the Czech Republic and the southern parts of Poland. The quantity on top of that is covered indirectly by maritime imports by Germany and Poland.

The paper also compiled a list of the the refinery capacities in Europe: