Rompetrol: Fuel sales are up 1%

Romanian petroleum market, amounting to around 5 million tonnes per year, posted a merely 1.05% rise last year against 2007, a much lower rate than the over 8% players in the sector had originally expected. The market has been going down since the beginning of this year, with January recording an around 18% sales decline compared with January 2008 for some players. “In the fourth quarter, the overall fuel market in Romania saw slower growth as a result of the global financial crisis, of just 1.05% in 2008 against 2007. The retail segment boosted its share to around 75% of the overall fuel market, while the wholesale segment fell to around 25%,” reads the latest financial report of the Rompetrol group. Rompetrol representatives said at the beginning of last year that they were expecting a 6-8% rise of the fuel market in 2008, after it had amounted to 6.5% in 2007 and to 5.5% in 2006.