Last year was one of the most difficult for the mobility industry, due to movement restrictions that hurt all oil companies. The market shrank 5% or 6%, according to available data, along with a drop in fuel prices early in the year, after the oil price plummeted 40%.
A better cost control led to a 25% rise in profit to RON149.6 million, Finance Ministry data show. The reduction in headcount from 2,195 to 1,608 last year can be an explanation for this.
The fuel market in Romania includes local production of still operational refineries (Rompetrol Rafinare, Petrobrazi and Petrotel-Lukoil) along with oil product imports and stood at $12.9 billion (some EUR11.3 billion) in 2020, about 5% lower than in 2019, ZF has calculated from the data supplied by market research company Euromonitor.
Sales of oil products could reach some $13.2 billion (EUR11 billion) this year, an increase of about 2% in 2020.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)