The Romanian state has no longer the obligation to keep crude oil and oil products stocks, a this obligation has been handed over to private companies , according to a recent Government Decision.

The rationale was that the state has been spending important amounts on creating and keeping these stocks, said the Minister Delegate for Energy Razvan Nicolescu.

Companies with good financial results and who can afford to keep such stocks will be obliged to do so, according to the minister.

In theory, this means all oil and gas companies with high profits in Romania will have to create stocks of oil. The state is yet to announce how the new decision will be applied, and at what level of sales/profits a company is obliged to keep such stocks, and what their amount should be.

The largest oil and gas company in Romania is OMV Petrom, owned by the Austrians from OMV. The company budgeted a profit of some EUR 880 million for 2014, down from the record level reported for 2013, some EUR 1.09 billion.

editor@romania-insider.com