MOL Restarts Danube Refinery's AV3 Unit in October

Hungarian oil company MOL announced on September 22 that it has finished construction work on the AV3 crude distillation unit at Danube Refinery in Százhalombatta, a year after a fire severely damaged the plant. The company put the total cost of the repairs at 18 billion forints, which Telegraf Biznis converts to roughly 5.8 billion dinars, or 49.8 million euros.

The fire broke out in October 2025 and damaged the AV3 unit, a key link in the crude processing chain. Over the following year, crews demolished and rebuilt the damaged reinforced concrete structures, while equipment, control systems and power infrastructure were overhauled. Workers installed 27 new high capacity pumps, replaced eight kilometers of pipeline and laid 100 kilometers of electrical cable. MOL said the work was completed on schedule.

Before the unit goes back into operation, the system still needs to be flushed, pressure tested and put through functional checks of its process control and safety equipment. Auxiliary systems and power supply will then be connected, and AV3’s operation will be synchronized with the rest of Danube Refinery. Production at AV3 will ramp up gradually through October, after which MOL says the refinery can once again run at full capacity.

Krisztián Pulay, MOL Group’s senior executive vice president for Downstream production and development, spoke about the significance of the repairs.

With the AV3 unit back online, we are restoring an important capacity, so Danube Refinery will be stronger and more flexible.

Pulay made the statement in MOL’s release marking the completion of the work.

The AV3 restart comes as MOL is simultaneously negotiating with Russia’s Gazprom Neft to buy a majority stake in Serbia’s Petroleum Industry (NIS). The US license covering those talks, along with NIS’s operating license, expires on September 30. This publication has previously reported on the license’s expiration and on comments by President Aleksandar Vucic about talks with the Russian side.

Serbia’s Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, has said the MOL and Gazprom Neft negotiations are in their final stage, while Vucic has described the situation as complicated, involving the American, Russian and Hungarian sides. The outcome of those talks will still determine how quickly NIS can count on a stable buyer or partner, even as Danube Refinery, according to MOL, returns to full production capacity in October.