Hungarian energy group MOL reported a pre-tax profit of about $1.25 billion in the third quarter of 2026, with stronger refining margins, higher natural-gas prices and exceptional financial gains supporting earnings. Weak petrochemical demand and regulated retail margins continued to constrain its downstream business.
Refining and upgrades
Refining was among MOL’s strongest contributors to the quarter. Favorable market conditions and a one-off insurance payment lifted earnings from a year earlier, while weak demand and pricing in petrochemicals weighed on the downstream portfolio.
MOL’s Rijeka refinery in Croatia completed its modernization programme. A new delayed-coking unit is gradually increasing output and supporting higher diesel production. At the Danube refinery in Hungary, the AV3 unit returned to operation in late October after construction work was completed the previous month.
Upstream production
Stronger gas prices and higher production at several international fields supported upstream earnings. Output exceeded 94,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with improved performance at the Shaikan and Pearl fields in Iraqi Kurdistan and the Fedorovskoye field in Kazakhstan helping lift production.
MOL’s average realised hydrocarbon price was around $98 per barrel of oil equivalent. Lower crude prices partly offset stronger gas markets. Scheduled maintenance reduced production in Hungary and Croatia, while attributable output from Azerbaijan’s ACG field declined.
Retail pressures and investment
Retail fuel sales increased from a year earlier, but margins per unit fell as government price interventions across Central and Eastern Europe limited profitability. In gas transportation, lower cross-border demand more than offset higher domestic volumes, weakening the business.
MOL has invested more than $10 billion organically since 2020 in refinery upgrades, supply security, diversification and energy-transition projects. Strong refining and upstream cash generation is supporting further investment, while petrochemical weakness, regulated fuel prices and higher fiscal burdens remain constraints.
