MOL boosts production with new oil discovery in central Hungary

MOL has again found crude oil in Vecsés, central Hungary, and has started trial production from the Vecsés-1 well at a production level of 1,300 barrels per day. The company said in a statement that this increases the group's total hydrocarbon production by about 1.5%.

MOL has once again found oil in the Vecsés oil field in Hungary. The company expects production at Vecsés-1 to increase shortly.

"The discovery of a new oil field a year and a half ago proved that there is still great potential in hydrocarbon exploration in Hungary. The latest discovery will increase the daily production of the Vecsés field by another 1,300 barrels, making the two wells of the Vecsés field account for more than a quarter of Hungary's oil production. The Vecsés field significantly contributes to compensating for the natural depletion of our mature fields," emphasized Archibald Schubert, managing director of MOL E&P Hungary, quoted in the statement.

After two successful wells, MOL is about to start drilling a third well in the Vecsés oil field.

MOL Group processes an average of 14-15 million tonnes (approximately 15-17 million tons) of crude oil annually in its refineries. About 9 million tonnes (approximately 10 million tons) is Russian oil, 1 million tonnes (approximately 1.1 million tons) comes from Hungarian and Croatian production, and the rest are alternative oils that arrive by sea and then via the Adriatic pipeline.

Oil from the Vecsés field is to be transported directly to the MOL refinery in Százhalombatta.

The Százhalombatta refinery can currently process a maximum of 30–35% non-Russian oil, in various mixing proportions, while the refinery in Bratislava processes only about 5%.