Fuel distribution market is becoming increasingly competitive, in the first six months of the year 66 new fuel stations appeared, said Neil Morgan, head of refining and marketing at OMV Petrom, the largest oil company in Romania, quoted in economica.net.

“There are 66 new stations. Gazprom, Socar, are expanding, we also have small local entrepreneurs”, said Morgan. “Neither we sit idly by. We will continue to optimize the network. We wait the tenders for gas stations on highways. We have a program for this year, and for 2015”, said Morgan.

OMV Petrom operates a network of 545 filling stations Petrom and OMV. On this market big players are Rompetrol (394 own stations, partners and Express), Lukoil (about 300 stations) and Mol, which has about 190 station in Romania after the transaction in which it took Eni chain. Recent entrants are Gazprom and Azerbaijan’s Socar.

Oil companies are expanding their number of supply points while the fuel consumption decreases, mainly due to price spikes resulting from tax increases. Recall that, from April 1, the government imposed an additional fuel excise of 7 cents per liter, which resulted in a price increase of 0,40 lei per liter. Pooled with prior increase in excise duties on 1 January, the price increase was 0,50 lei per liter.

According to estimates released Wednesday by Petrom, after the first six months of the year, sales of petroleum products in Romania (petrol and diesel) decreased, in the entire market, with 2.9% compared with the same period last year (minus 2.2% for retail sales, minus 4.5% sales in commercial sector).

In terms of Petrom sales, these fell by 7% in the first half of this year compared with the same period of last year, to 1.55 million tons. The figure is valid for sales marketing.