Oil company Petrom may cut 5 or 10% of the fuel price without having any losses but, eventually, cease having record-breaking profits, said Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian on Friday. The price decreasing trend would be followed by the other companies as well, Vosganian added.
"The prices could be significantly lower, which would lead Petrom, eventually, to less than record-breaking profits. In case Petrom would adopt a more prudent strategy, other companies would practice lower prices as well", said Vosganian, continuing the criticism wave launched a couple of weeks ago.
On Thursday, the minister called the pricing policy at Petrom as "defying" and emphasized that the prices would be lower, given the local oil reserves in Romania and the lower taxation level.
Petrom had a net profit during the first quarter 156% larger than in Q1 2007, up to 977 million RON (some 265 million euro).
