A change in pricing policy at Petrom, the leader on the domestic oil market that recently became part of the portfolio of Austrian group OMV, has brought the Romanian fuel market close to complete liberalisation. Market liberalisation has been long awaited by all domestic and international companies.
The announcement by Petrom that it will start to set fuel prices in relation to international quotations for oil products and the local competition was welcomed by other filling station operators, which are expected to make similar moves.
For many years, Petrom did not take into account international oil prices in terms of its pricing policy, and this has hurt companies on the domestic market, causing them to report losses almost every year.
According to Petrom’s new policy, which is based on “European practices in the oil industry”, prices will be allowed to change on a monthly or even weekly basis and will “vary in the same way they do on West European markets,” Tamas Mayer, who is responsible for Petrom’s trading policy and a member of the company’s management board, told Ziarul Financiar.
“The privatisation of Petrom has triggered, as I expected, the liberalisation of the market in January. For February 1, Rompetrol is preparing the transition to a weekly policy of price changes, which will have to take international quotations into account,” said Dinu Patriciu, chairman and main shareholder of the private group Rompetrol, the second largest player on the market. The Russian group LUKOil, the third company on the Romanian market, already initiated price cuts some ten days ago at its Petrotel Ploiesti refinery, as well as in its own network of filling stations, according to company sources.
“Petrom’s announcement is the first step towards complete liberalisation. This is a positive sign. We will see what happens with refinery prices and prices at fuel wholesale warehouses,” said Antonio Cambiotti, chairman of Agip Romania, the domestic branch of Italian group Eni. “At any rate, the move raises result predictability and improves market conditions,” added Cambiotti.
Karoly Robak, executive manager of MOL Romania, the domestic branch of the Hungarian group, said that “if this amounts to market liberalisation, we will welcome it because this way our situation will be similar to that of other European countries”.
adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro