The price hike came “hand in hand” with a systemic problem—a disruption in oil supplies from Kazakhstan: via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), through the port of Novorossiysk, and by tanker across the Black Sea. The cause was attacks by Ukrainian drones on the CPC terminal and subsequently on the tanker Nelsa in the port’s roadstead. As a result, shipowners temporarily stopped sending tankers to Novorossiysk. The terminal resumed receiving oil yesterday, but the disruption in supplies had already occurred.
As expert Dumitru Taraburca notes in this regard, Romania’s largest oil refinery, Petromidi, is owned by the Kazakh state-owned company KazMunayGas through KMG International, and it is almost entirely dependent on crude oil from Kazakhstan. As an interim result, oil refining is estimated to have declined by 15% in August. The country’s second-largest refinery, Petrobrazi (OMV Petrom), also relies on Kazakh crude, albeit in smaller volumes.
“This is a very difficult situation for agriculture, since right now the industry is in the season of peak fuel consumption: the harvest, followed by the planting season,” agrointelegența quotes Payam Akbari, CEO of Agricover Commodities, as saying. “Prices will return to their historical levels, but right now price takes a back seat when product availability is extremely limited.”
Logos PressNote : It is worth noting that Moldova covers 99% of its gasoline needs and 70% of its diesel fuel needs through imports from Romania.
