Romanian Oil Co Petrom Fuel Prices Could Be Dn 10%, Pft Not Impacted -Econ Min

"Petrom’s fuel prices could be slightly down, which would prevent Petrom from registering record-high profit as in the first quarter of the year, without impacting the company. Should Petrom enforce a cautious strategy, the other oil companies would diminish fuel prices," Vosganian said.

Petrom’s first quarter net profit more than doubled to 977 million lei (EUR1= RON3.6767) from RON381 million a year earlier, on higher oil prices and positive restructuring results. The company posted RON3.72 billion in first-quarter turnover, up 35% from RON2.75 billion in the corresponding period in 2007 due to higher oil prices.

The constant growth of oil prices in Romania is ungrounded considering it is the only country with crude-oil resources in the European Union, Vosganian also said.

This is the fourth time in the last two weeks when Vosganian criticized Petrom for its gas and diesel oil prices.

Vosganian also said no forecast could be made on any potential trend change of international oil prices hike.

The Competition Council should be the body in charge with analyzing fuel prices, not the Government, he also said.

The high fuel prices enforced by Petrom are "defiant," and exceed the fuel prices in the countries with no crude-oil resources, Vosganian said Thursday.

The minister announced recently that the representatives of the Economy and Finance Ministry would talk with the producers and fuel traders regarding price rises.

Since the beginning of the year, Petrom, owned by Austria’s OMV, has hiked fuel prices nine times. Fuel prices have grown by 10-12% since the beginning of the year.