Economy Minister: Oil companies practice defiant prices

Joi, 22 mai 2008, 15:21 English | Top News

Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian qualified as "defiance" the pricing policy of oil companies, arguing that prices in Romania should not be influenced by the international prices as long as Romania has its own resources. Vosganian says that he will discuss the matter with the companies, presenting their balances in order to prove that the profits are increasing, while the price growth is not justified.

During the past two weeks, the minister criticized on several occasions the price growth for fuel and issued public warnings to the oil companies. Last week, Vosganian admitted that the state can not impose a private pricing policy, but claimed that warnings will be treated seriously.

"In Romania, the fuel obtained from locally extracted oil is sold for prices higher than in countries without oil reserves, which buy their oil from the Persian Gulf", said Vosganian, reminding that the taxes included in the fuel price decreased lately.