Cseh Valentin szerk.: „70 éve alakult a MAORT” – tanulmányok egy bányavállalat történetéből (2009)
Lajos Srágli: Hungary's Economy, Politics and MAORT
The combined share capital of established refineries (among them Shell's Csepel and Vacuum's Almásfüzitő refineries) failed to reach MAORT's worth represented bv shares. MAORT's profit was more than five times that of the refineries as early as 1941. 148 In addition to the production and sales related direct financial figures, the indirect impact that MAORT's operation, i.e. the establishing of domestic crude oil production on an industrial scale, had on the country's economy and society was also very significant. This is clearly reflected in part by workforce employment (on the one hand in MAORT's own plants, and on the other at the refineries, whose capacity would have gone unutilised without MAORT's production), but also bv the development of settlements in Zala County, the improvement of the infrastructure, and the orders placed in Hungary's industry, etc. The period lasting from December 20, 1941 to January 20, 1945 is a peculiar stage of the share company's development, which clearly stands out from the times that preceded it. War conditions and the subordination of Hungary's economy to the German military economy impacted MAORT's close to unhindered operation up to that time in an unusually detrimental way. As of the taking of the share company's plants into treasury use, the main aspiration of its management and professionals was to retain the results they achieved up to that time for the post-war period, and to safeguard oilfields from being wrecked. Their goal was not to produce oil as quickly as possible, rather to work the oil reserves to the fullest possible extent. When the treasury took over MAORT's plants, it primarily strove to increase crude oil production. For this reason the Ministry of Industry instructed MAORT's management to use all of their assets for drilling producing wells. As a result, 665,000 tons in crude oil production was achieved bv putting the 59 wells drilled in 1942 into production, and they managed to increase this to 837,710 tons in 1943 (bv drilling another 60 wells). This production result, however, was not derived from the forced working of oilfields, that is destructive working - as opposed to certain subsequent opinions - rather primarily from the more complete exploration of the Lovászi field, moreover from the discovery and putting into production of newer crude oil fields. The drop in production in 1944 (809,969 tons) in part reflects the difficulties of wartime production (mainly worsening asset supply, the wearing out of equipment, and the effects of war action), and in part the fact that the Budafapuszta oilfield had already passed its production peak, and its yield started to decrease naturally. World War Two caused enormous damages for Hungarv, both in material terms and in that of human life, and left a series of unresolved questions in its wake. The decade that followed the world war brought deep-rooted changes lor the Hungarian economy. The path of a century's worth of capitalist economy was interrupted, political factors veered development that ran by its own laws Lo a dead-end street. Not a single sector of the Hungarian economy was an exception from these impacts. These processes were nevertheless experienced most directly, and first of all, in the fields of industry and mining. This was a consequence of the said sectors' role in the elimination of the war's economic consequences, in rebuilding, stabilisation, and the payment of restitution. The obligation of supplying the Soviet army and the Allied Control Committee, and of paying The production value of coal mining in Hungarv in 1941 was 224,652,111)1) Pengő, that of iron ore mining 38,111111,1)1)0 Pengő, that of other ore mining 37,000,000 Pengő, and that of salt mining 11,000,000 Pengő. The value of MAORT's production for year 1941 was 45,000,000 Pengő; HAUER, MOIM Arch. Gyulay documents 42/2.
