Romanian Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan announced that he had received official confirmation from the US government for an exemption from sanctions against the Russian company “Lukoil“ for the Romanian refinery “Petrotel-Lukoil“, the Agerpres agency reported. According to Bogdan Ivan, who is on a visit to Washington, the refinery will be able to operate within 45 days, BTA reported.
“This is extremely important news: the fact that we have received official confirmation from the US government for a derogation from sanctions against “Lukoil“, so that Romania can resume work at the “Petrotel-Lukoil“ refinery. This is huge news for our country. Through this mechanism, this refinery will be able to operate again within 45 days and produce diesel, gasoline and kerosene for Romania. This is an extremely important step forward. 21 percent of Romania's production will be provided by this refinery and this is a fundamental element for stabilizing the fuel market in Romania. Currently, there are only two countries in the world - Germany and now Romania - that have achieved this," the minister told Antena 3 television last night.
He added that in this way Romania will not depend so much on imports, will produce all the gasoline it consumes and over 60 percent of the diesel fuel, as well as all the fuel for aviation.
The Minister of Energy pointed out that with the re-commissioning of the refinery, Romania will become more resilient to international price fluctuations, “because, as for diesel fuel, which is bought at double the price compared to a month and a half ago, oil in Romania is only about 30 percent“.
“This automatically means that our prices will be lower than those in the entire region“, said Bogdan Ivan.
At the end of last month, the Romanian government decided to reduce the excise duty on diesel fuel in order to limit the increase in prices.
According to data from a fuel price comparison platform in Romania, today the price of standard gasoline is 8.72 lei per liter (1.41 euros), of standard diesel - 9.67 lei per liter (1.90 euros), and of autogas - 4.21 lei (0.83 euros). In previous weeks, the price of diesel exceeded the psychological threshold of 10 lei per liter.
The minister also assured that “not a single gram of Russian oil will reach Romania“.
“We are talking about oil that will arrive from other countries, and at the same time, not a single leu will reach the Russian Federation. We have a very clear mechanism, created by the Ministry of Energy, to supervise all operations, to make sure and give guarantees to both the United States and the European Union that through the Ministry of Energy of Romania we guarantee that all transactions will be transparent and will have no connection with Russia“, said Bogdan Ivan.
The minister said that he had convinced his interlocutors in the United States that if Romania manages to refine more oil, it will ensure its energy security, as well as that of the region.
According to him, Romania currently produces twice as much gasoline as it consumes, and this allows it to sell to neighboring countries, which in this way no longer depend on imports that previously passed through the Strait of Hormuz Strait.
„The same situation applies to kerosene, whose production, when greater than the country's consumption, allows us to sell to the European Union countries, which are now almost 50 percent dependent on kerosene imports coming from the Middle East“, explained Bogdan Ivan.
„This is a huge victory for Romania and at the same time guarantees us that we are not as dependent on imports as we were at the beginning of this conflict in the Middle East. This is probably the best news I could give as Minister of Energy in recent weeks“, he said.
Bogdan Ivan recalled that a state of emergency has currently been declared in Romania on the fuel market, which allows the Minister of Energy and the Ministry of Economy to authorize the export of oil and diesel fuel only in the interest of NATO and with very clear exceptions.