Gas and diesel became about 60% more expensive in 2008-2012, even though Romania has its own oil resources and is the fifth biggest producer in Europe.
A country with only 548 kilometers of highways and two cars for every ten people, Romania lags behind Czech Republic and Austria in terms of fuel consumption, despite its size and only manages to beat Bulgaria in this regard.
According to the available data, Romania has 2,000 gas stations and OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) is the market leader, while Austria has 2,500 stations and Czech Republic 3,700. Despite this gap, competitors on the market say today’s weaknesses may turn into competitive edges in the long run.
Moreover, while some gas stations in Germany offer hair-styling services to customers or small conference rooms in premium locations and France has hypermarket-gas stations, such trends are ignored in Romaia for the time being.
About 73% of the 2,000 gas stations in Romania feature a convenience retail offer, however, the public perception is that these shops are generally more expensive and they are used out of necessity rather than convenience.
“Supermarkets have not yet entered the service station market widely and therefore an opportunity exists to develop the concept,” a CBRE report says.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)