Fuel prices rose again on Friday morning, by 9 bani per liter, and in some gas stations standard diesel, the most used variety in Romania, exceeded the 9 lei barrier, according to the Fuel Price Monitor application, analyzed by HotNews.
Thus, a liter of standard diesel costs 8.95 lei at Petrom and 9.02 lei at OMV stations. Premium diesel, suitable for high-powered cars, costs between 9.37 and 9.58 lei per liter.
Gasoline reached between 8.49 lei and 8.57 lei per liter for the standard assortment and 9.06 – 9.28 lei for the premium one.
People are afraid of new price increases
The past few days, gas stations were very crowded, as people are looking to stock up for fear of new price increases. Oil company sales have increased 3-4 times over a normal day, the energy minister and an aide said.
“My attention was drawn to the 3-fold increase in fuel sales in the last 5 days. 3x! It's hard to refuel, all the tanks are full, people also refuel in canisters or 5l drums. This is not healthy at all. Because the gas stations will quickly finish the stock they bought at the pre-war price, and from now on, everything that comes comes with the new, higher price,” he wrote on his blog on Thursday Adrian Vintilă, energy specialist and advisor to the relevant minister.
For his part, the Minister of Energy, Bogdan Ivan, declared on Wednesday evening on Antena 3 that sales in gas stations have increased four times in the last few days.
“In 10 days, since this war in the Middle East started, there was a direct consumption in the wholesale market, that is, everything that means transport companies, companies in general from Romania, 4 times higher than in any other period of the last year. I mean, people stocked up, panicked, so to speak, and bought 4 times more than in any other period. Obviously, it was necessary to buy in the market to be able to cover this extreme consumption of the sea”, said Ivan, quoted by Profit.ro.
Diesel could reach 9.78 lei in two weeks
The price of diesel in gas stations in Romania could reach 9.78 lei in two weeks, very close to the psychological threshold of 10 lei, if the authorities do not take any measures, according to an analysis by the Intelligent Energy Association. The specialists reached this result after applying a mathematical formula that includes the price of oil, diesel quotations, company margins, logistics chain costs, as well as excise duty and VAT collected by the state.
For gasoline, the mathematical model used shows a possible price in two weeks of 8.46 lei/liter, said Dumitru Chisăliță, the president of the association, for HotNews.
