Hungary, MOL starts production at three shallow gas wells

The statement from the company said that the three wells could produce as much as 750 barrels of oil equivalent per day, enough gas to supply up to 20,000 households for several years.

The company launched the shallow gas program in 2019, targeting gas fields closer to the surface, typically small ones. In recent years, 16 out of 18 well drills have been successful, and shallow gas accounts for roughly 5 % of MOL’s annual gas production of 1.4 billion cubic meters in Hungary.

The gas fields targeted by drilling are generally located at the depths between 1,500 and 2,000 meters.

Hungary sits above a huge gas field of around 1,600 billion cubic meters, which in theory could supply the country for even a century.

However, most of this amount is unconventional gas, meaning that it is very difficult to access because it is thousands of meters deep and extraction would require technology that would not be economically viable.

The company plans to invest around 530 million euros in domestic hydrocarbon exploitation in the next five years. Almost 60-65 % of this amount will be for natural gas, 20-25 % for oil and the rest for the maintenance and replacement of infrastructure.

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