As the first step in a $120 million program, the local subsidiary recently bought 15 local filling stations from Avanti, which formerly operated a network of close to 40 stations in Hungary. Last year Lukoil established 19 gas stations in Hungary. Out of the estimated 1,100 filling stations in Hungary, market leader MOL Hungarian Gas and Oil Rt. operates close to 400 and runner-up Shell Hungary Rt. 179.

Purchase price for the 15 stations was not disclosed by the parties. AVA Fuel Trading Rt, a local subsidiary of Austria’s AVA Mineralölhandel AG and the former owner of the Hungarian Avanti network, reduced its equity from HUF 1.72 billion to HUF 50 million late last year. The company, which previously went into the red, made HUF 322 million profit on HUF 6 billion in revenues in 2003.

Avanti’s filling stations in Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania have been bought by Austrian oil company OMV AG, which did not find the Hungarian network attractive. Lukoil has increased the number of its filling stations to approximately 300 in Eastern Europe.