The Competition Council will monitor the fuel market, so that the elimination of the overcharge will lead to a corresponding decrease of the prices in the fuel stations, said Bogdan Chiriţoiu, the president of the competition authority.

“We will monitor the market to see the behavior of the economic actors from the moment when the excise duty is reduced. From the history we have analyzing this sector, it has emerged that the changes have been transmitted so far in price. That is, when the excise duty was increased, also this was the case with the pump price, and when the excise duty was reduced, the petroleum products got cheaper. So history does not make us alarmists,” said Chiriţoiu, according to Agerpres.

According to him, oil companies risk stiff fines if they do not reduce fuel at the pump, after the reduction of excise duty.

Last summer, the Competition Council published the results of an analysis on the fuel market, which showed that there is reduced competition in this sector, which reflects on the level of prices in gas stations.

The market leader, OMV Petrom, which holds half of the market share, is the one that actually dictates the price, and the rest of the companies are waiting for Petrom’s strategic moves to decide how to change the fuel price.

Following the investigation, the Competition Council recommended that all oil companies display simultaneously the increase in fuel prices, so that the companies do not influence each other.