Moldova Is on the Verge of a New Fuel Crisis

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Moldova risks facing not only high prices of petroleum products, but also a lack of fuel at gas stations. Companies in the field warn about this. Some gas stations networks are already out of diesel fuel and gasoline and can’t replenish them, mold-street.com writes. This is due to huge traffic jams at checkpoints on the Moldovan-Romanian border and very long waiting times for tanks with petroleum products to pass in both directions (entering or leaving the Republic of Moldova). “If previously the tanks used to cross the border within a day, now it takes 2-3 days and even longer. Thus, transportation of petroleum products takes about eight days in both directions, which means higher fuel transportation costs,” the carrier explained. Tanks can cross only one border crossing point with Romania: Leuseni – Albita. On May 16, Moldova’s Oil Companies Association, which includes companies with 40% of the market, sent a request to the Customs Service and the National Energy Regulatory Agency, warning of the critical shortage of oil products and asking for urgent measures to solve the border crossing problems. The Oil Companies Association, which includes relatively large companies such as Vento, Tirex-Petrol, Bemol, Avante, BasaPetrol, Fox-Petrol, Vero-Nadina, etc., proposed “as a solution to unblock the transport routes” to form a special line for tankers carrying oil products so as not to stop the import process and allow passage at the Cahul-Oancea checkpoint to reduce the load at the Leuseni checkpoint. Ariana Dermenji, executive director of the Oil Companies Association, said she has not yet received a response to the request sent. There has also been no response from the authorities to take action to resolve the problem. The largest importers and players in the oil market, Lukoil-Moldova, Rompetrol-Moldova and Petrom-Moldova, which provide more than 70% of oil imports, also face such problems. This was confirmed by ANRE representatives, who stated that they had also received notification from the Foreign Investors Association about problems related to transportation of oil products and shortages of diesel fuel and gasoline. Added to all this is the fact that Ukrainian importers are willing to give Romanian refineries a better price for petroleum products than to Moldovan ones. As a result, diesel often goes to Ukraine. In addition, there are grain and oil traders from Moldova and Ukraine who want to export products and also demand that new border crossings points be opened and border crossing procedures simplified. Point