Oil company vows to produce clean hydrogen at more refineries after opening largest green H2 project in Central and Eastern Europe

Oil company MOL Group has installed a 10MW electrolyser at its Danube refinery in Száhalombatta, Hungary — the largest in Central and Eastern Europe to date — as its CEO vowed to produce green hydrogen at another two refineries.

“After Száhalombatta, we will take the technology to the other two fuel production units of the group to make the fuel production process more sustainable at each of MOL Group’s refineries,” said József Molnár, CEO of Hungary’s MOL Group.

These include sites in Rijeka, Croatia and Bratislava, Slovakia — although whether electrolysers will also be installed at MOL Group’s fourth petrochemicals complex at Tiszaújváros, also in Hungary, has not been confirmed.

The Danube refinery is itself one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, processing 165,000 barrels of oil per day.

The electrolyser, which was supplied by US manufacturer Plug Power and cost €22m ($24.3m), is set to produce 1,600 tonnes a year of green H₂ to displace the refinery’s current hydrogen produced from unabated natural gas.

MOL Group estimates that its grey hydrogen production for refining accounts for a sixth of its total CO₂ emissions — although this is unlikely to include Scope 3 emissions from combustion of the fossil fuels it supplies to the market.

The company has not specified the exact power source supplying its electrolyser. In order for the firm to comply with EU targets for 42% of industrial hydrogen to be renewable by 2030, however, it will have to use green hydrogen produced according to the definition set out in the Delegated Acts passed last year.

The EU’s targets, which are part of the updated Renewable Energy Directive signed into law in October, are likely to have prompted MOL Group’s decision to roll out green hydrogen projects across its refineries.

Some oil companies are still holding the trigger on major hydrogen investments until member states transpose the directive into their own national policies — and thereby define penalties for non-compliance.

Others have already started tendering for renewable hydrogen supply, such as TotalEnergies, or taking a final investment decision on their own production projects, such as Galp.

However, MOL Group indicates in its annual report that making H₂ could also be a new revenue stream for the company: “Beyond the EU compliance, MOL Group will leverage its strength of integrated operation via entering the whole renewable hydrogen value chain to play a dominant role in the regional hydrogen ecosystem and serve emerging market demands.”