Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has announced the discovery of a new oilfield in Transdanubia, near Somogysámson.
The exploration drilling campaign in December 2024 revealed oil at a depth of 1,250m.
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Drilling at the well, named Som-8, began on 25 November 2024 and was completed after 33 days.
The well tests conducted until March 2025 revealed that the Som-8 well can produce 1,200 barrels of oil per day (bpd).
The oil produced from the field is due to be transported by truck to the Danube refinery in Százhalombatta.
This discovery is expected to help meet Hungary’s energy needs and contribute to MOL Group’s total hydrocarbon production.
The oil production from the Som-8 well will account for around 1% of MOL Group’s total hydrocarbon production.
MOL Group Exploration and Production executive vice-president Zsombor Marton said: “I am very proud to announce that, after the exploration successes of the recent years, we have once again discovered a new oilfield – this time in the Transdanubian region, where we last discovered oil more than a decade ago.
“The fact that we achieved this success in the concession belonging to Bázakerettye, which has an almost 100-year oil industry tradition, is clear evidence that there is still potential in hydrocarbon exploration in Hungary.
“We are discovering previously unknown hydrocarbon deposits one after the other and further strengthening the country’s security of supply: with the oil deposits in Vecsés and Tura and the natural gas fields in Eastern Hungary, we have reached a five-year peak in domestic production.”
Over the next five years, MOL plans to invest approximately Ft150bn ($411.8m) in oil and natural gas production in Hungary.
In 2024, MOL provided 47% of crude oil and nearly 90% of natural gas for domestic production.
Hungary is a significant part of MOL Group’s oil and gas production portfolio, currently accounting for approximately 39% of total production.
To maintain its Shape Tomorrow strategy target of at least 90,000bpd of production over the next five years, MOL aims to strengthen its international portfolio and seek strategic partnerships.
MOL Hungary COO György Bacsa said: “As a landlocked country, our oil supply is largely via pipelines and intermediaries. It is clear that we need to reduce Hungary’s import dependence by all means available. We will continue our investments and will continue to do our utmost to maintain and, if possible, increase production.”
Recently, MOL signed a cooperation agreement with Kazakhstan’s national oil company, KazMunayGas, to explore opportunities in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
This new agreement continues their joint venture in Kazakhstan, where MOL, KazMunayGas and China’s Sinopec have been extracting gas and gas condensate at the Rozhkovskoye field.
