At that moment, local authorities assured the collected money would go to highway construction. Since the start of this year, no new km of highway has been delivered in Romania.
According to data centralized by ZF, the price per liter of gasoline has reached RON5.920, while diesel oil sells for around RON6/liter.
Petrom, Rompetrol and MOL did not answer ZF’s request for information on the current average prices of gasoline and diesel oil compared with the level of March 31, 2014, one day before the introduction of the 7 cents/liter excise duty.
The plunging oil prices have already stirred concern among oil companies. For instance, OMV, the Austrian oil group that controls Romanian Petrom, announced it would review its investment plan for the next 2-3 years.
The introduction of the excise duty has dampened fuel demand in Romania. As a matter of fact, Catalin Dumitru, vice-president of Rompetrol group, said he expected fuel demand to shrink by 5% this year, with half of the decline being generated by the excise duty.
Romania consumes between 5.8-9 tons of fuel annually, with the value of the market revolving around EUR9.5 billion. Overall, more than 2,000 filling stations operate locally.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)