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The sharp fall followed the shutdown of Russian crude transit through Ukraine after the late‑January attack on the Druzhba pipeline, which forced oil and gas company MOL to request the release of a quarter‑million tonnes of state reserves, equal to about 40% of the available stock at the time.
The situation is even more dramatic over a longer horizon. In October, the country still held more than 770,000 tonnes of mobile reserves, meaning roughly 50% has been depleted in just a few months.
The government has since opened the full gasoline and diesel reserves, amounting to 610 million liters of diesel and 352 million liters of gasoline, to avoid shortages as global oil markets were hit by the closure of the Hormuz Strait following the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
With no crude arriving through the Druzhba pipeline, reserves are expected to fall further in March, and monthly shortfalls of about 40 million liters of gasoline and 80 million liters of diesel could erode stocks at a similar pace.
The government may soon be forced to release additional volumes if imports do not stabilize.
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