Some gas stations may experience fuel unavailability situations due to demand, but these are one-off and short-term situations, with stations being refueled quickly, according to OMV Petrom representatives.
“Some gas stations may experience temporary product unavailability situations. These are one-off and short-term effects, with stations being refueled quickly. Current pump prices reflect both the limitation of the mark-up in the distribution and refining activities, as well as the advantages generated by the integrated business model. This evolution has generated an accelerated increase in demand,” OMV Petrom representatives stated, according to Agerpres.
On the retail distribution market of petroleum products, the Group is present in Romania and neighboring countries through approximately 780 gas stations, under two brands – OMV and Petrom.
In recent days, information has emerged in the public space according to which some gas stations in the country have run out of gasoline or diesel.
The President of the Smart Energy Association (AEI), Dumitru Chisăliță, had warned, in an analysis published on Wednesday, that the price of diesel could increase in the coming days to 9.4 – 9.6 lei per liter, and some gas stations may temporarily run out of fuel stocks, amid tensions on the international oil market, large price differences between networks and preventive refueling.
“The May 1st holiday comes with price increases and potential local shortages, which should draw the vigilance of those leaving home. It’s not a question of whether diesel will go up in price, but how quickly. The oil market has re-entered a risk zone, and the effects are already being felt in the pockets of Romanian drivers. A barrel of Brent crude is hanging around $110, pushed up not by a booming economy, but by instability and fear. The realistic range for the next few days – $106 to $116 – says it all. The market is no longer about balance, but about nerves. And nerves are costly,” the specialist claims, in an analysis titled “Diesel and gasoline prices rise again – Romania pays the bill for global tensions.”
According to the analysis, what is happening in Romania does not look like a classic supply crisis, but rather like “a market turned upside down by managed prices, large differences between networks, consumer panic and logistics unable to absorb the shock”.
“Last week, approximately 60 Petrom stations were left without standard diesel, amid prices much lower than those of competitors; the company spoke of one-off and temporary situations, not of a national shortage. The real problem is different: when a network sells diesel for tens of thousands of rubles cheaper, customers migrate there en masse. Local stocks empty, tankers cannot replenish immediately, and the station remains “without diesel”. Not because Romania no longer has diesel, but because the commercial flow is broken locally. Then the herd effect intervenes. A driver sees the pump closed, posts the photo, others fill up as a precaution, fleets use more fuel, and a one-off problem becomes an operational panic. “In a normal market, this is regulated by price. In a tense market, with caps, restrictions and fear, regulation becomes brutal, not only does the price increase, the product disappears from some stations,” the specialist believes.