The price per liter of gas sold on the domestic market increased by more than 84% in euros from the beginning of 2009 through the end of last year, show the data published in the European Commission’s oil bulletins. The increase in lei stood at 82%, comparing the prices displayed by Petrom in early 2009 with those displayed in the first day of this year. Romania’s economy fell 7% in the three years of crisis.
The data of the European Commission show that one liter of gas cost EUR0.66 on January 12, 2009 and over EUR1.2 on December 19, 2011. These price increases put Romania on the second place by gas price hikes of all the 27 EU member countries, second only to Greece, where gas became 98% more expensive during the period considered.
Third in this ranking is Latvia, but the liter of gas rose in price by only 67.8%. Germany and Netherlands are at the bottom of the ranking, having raised the gas price by 30.6% and 27.1%, according to the European Commission statistics.
The oil cost almost $43 per barrel early in 2009, and now stands at over $110. A potential embargo on Iranian oil from the European Union will only create additional pressure on the price of the “black gold”.
“Things seem to be pretty clear. It’s a monopoly. Eastern expenses, Western prices and African profits,” says Cristian Parvan, general secretary of the Businesspeople’s Association of Romania (AOAR). “We suggested a number of measures but none of them was taken into account. One such measure would have been taxing the oil companies’ profits derived from the volatility of the oil price.”
The three years of crisis and of fuel consumption decline were not enough to curb oil companies’ appetite for price hikes when it comes to diesel oil, either. Romania is again among the top countries in terms of the rise in prices, though only third this time, with 61% from January 12, 2009 through December 19, 2011. Top two in this ranking are Cyprus, with over 70% and Hungary, with over 62%. Netherlands and Germany are among the countries at bottom of the ranking, again, as diesel oil became only 32.9% and 29.1% more expensive.
An investigation into the potential pump price fixing agreement among the major companies Petrom, Rompetrol, Lukoil, MOL and Agip has been ongoing since 2005, yet the Competition Council has not been able to gather sufficient evidence yet.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)