Hungary’s Mol cuts forecast for 2024 refinery runs

: Crude oil, Natural gas, Oil products, Petrochemicals
24/11/08

Hungarian integrated oil firm Mol has revised down its 2024 forecast for crude runs at its two landlocked refineries after a "turnaround-heavy" third quarter, it said today.

The company expects to refine around 11.5mn t of crude combined at the 161,000 b/d Szazhalombatta plant in Hungary and the 115,000 b/d Bratislava complex in Slovakia this year, down from its previous guidance of about 12mn t. The two refineries processed 8.25mn t of crude in January-September, down from 9.09mn t a year earlier. Their combined crude throughput was down by 11pc on the year at 2.81mn t in the third quarter.

Mol carried out scheduled maintenance at Szazhalombatta between 26 July and 19 September and expects to complete maintenance work on petrochemical units at Bratislava in the first half of November.

Crude intake at Mol's third refinery, the 90,000 b/d Rijeka plant on Croatia's Adriatic coast, rose by 2.6pc on the year to 802,000t in the third quarter and was largely unchanged year-on-year at 1.26mn t in January-September. The company's crude throughput forecast only includes the Hungarian and Slovakian refineries.

Mol cut the share of imported crude in its overall slate to 3.35mn t, or 93pc, in the third quarter from 3.8mn t, or 97pc, a year earlier, while it almost doubled intake from its own crude production to 255,000t in July-September from 129,000t in the same period last year.

Szazhalombatta and Bratislava mostly process Russian crude received through the Druzhba pipeline system under an EU oil ban waiver, while Rijeka mainly takes non-Russian seaborne crude.

The profitability of Mol's refining business was hit by a 71pc year-on-year fall in its refinery margin indicator — calculated based on the Dated Brent crude benchmark — to just $3.70/bl in July-September.

Its oil product sales fell by 4.2pc from a year earlier to 4.88mn t in the third quarter. This included 1.52mn t of products Mol had to buy from third parties to complement its own output and satisfy demand, a significant rise from 1.25mn t of third-party oil products it sold a year earlier.

The firm's upstream oil and gas production rose by 11pc on the year to 96,100 b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) in the July-September quarter. It has raised its full-year forecast to about 92,000-94,000 boe/d from previous guidance of around 90,000 boe/d.

Mol's profit fell to 111.5bn forint ($295mn) in the third quarter from Ft175.8bn a year earlier.

By Béla Fincziczki

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25/04/21

US offers Trinidad cushion from Vz gas sanctions

Kingston, 21 April (Argus) — Trinidad and Tobago and the US have agreed to seek ways to prevent Washington's sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector from harming the Caribbean country's natural gas production and energy security, both governments said. The administration of President Donald Trump revoked licenses earlier this month that had been granted by former president Joe Biden's government to gas-short Trinidad to develop the Dragon and Cocuina gas fields that straddle the maritime border with Venezuela. "Both sides agreed that we are going to work very closely to find a solution that achieves US objectives regarding Venezuela without harming Trinidad," the US State Department and Trinidad prime minister Stuart Young said. But neither government indicated how Trinidad would find alternative sources of feedstock in the short term to lift output of midstream and downstream products. Young and US secretary of state Marco Rubio discussed Trinidad's concerns in an 18 April telephone conversation, Young's office said. "Any outcomes of sanctions upon the Maduro regime and Venezuela is in no way indicative of our relationship with Trinidad and Tobago and the value we place on it," the state department said. Trinidad regards the cross-border gas fields as future sources of feedstock to counter a fall in domestic output that has suppressed LNG, petrochemicals and fertilizer production. It has struggled to recover gas flow since November 2017, following a long slide from a 4.3 Bcf/d peak in 2010. Trinidad's 2024 natural gas production of 2.53 Bcf/d was 2pc less than in the previous year, according to the latest data from the energy ministry. The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) had cleared the way for Trinidad and Venezuela to develop the 4.3 trillion cf Dragon field. Ofac also granted BP and Trinidad's state-owned gas company NGC a license to develop the cross-border Cocuina-Manakin field, which contains at least 1 trillion cf. The Trump administration revoked licenses both this year. By Canute James Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

US PVC demand outlook softens on weak housing

25/04/21

US PVC demand outlook softens on weak housing

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IMO incentive to shape bio-bunker choices: Correction

25/04/21

IMO incentive to shape bio-bunker choices: Correction

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Calif. refinery resupply rule vote postponed

25/04/21

Calif. refinery resupply rule vote postponed

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IMF anticipates lower growth from US tariffs

25/04/17

IMF anticipates lower growth from US tariffs

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