Rompetrol says it scrapped USD 700 mln investment plan because of taxation, which puts at risk its operations

Rompetrol Rafinare, which operates Romania's largest refinery and is the main supplier of petroleum products for the Republic of Moldova, controlled by KazMunayGas, warned that the taxation regime, particularly the minimum income tax on revenues (IMCA), endangers its business continuity.

The company said it abandoned a USD 700 million investment plan in 2024-2025, also because of the excessive taxation.

"Larger investments are being postponed in the context in which the company estimated a loss of about USD 24 million in 2025, and 2024 recorded a negative net result of USD 78 million, due to excessive fiscal pressure. This aspect led to the suspension of the implementation of several investment projects planned for the period 2024-2025, with a total value of over 700 million dollars," Rompetrol Rafinare representatives told Ziarul Financiar.

"For Rompetrol Rafinare, the consequences of the tax regime introduced in December 2022, through surtaxation (solidarity) measures and continued with new taxes on turnover (ICAS - the additional tax on oil and gas activity and IMCA - the minimum turnover tax), starting with 2024, are existential," Rompetrol said, according to Profit.ro.

The company argues that, in the case of IMCA, chain taxation is applied, with the same liter of fuel being taxed multiple times, in each link of the distribution chain (refining, fuel distribution, retail), which brings the effective tax rate to over 100%.

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