Sufficient fuel stocks
Romanian authorities announce that they are prepared to overcome the energy price crisis.
Daniela Budu, 18.03.2026, 14:00
Romania has sufficient fuel stocks and there will be no supply disruptions that might increase gasoline and diesel oil prices uncontrollably, the Energy Minister Bogdan Ivan has assured. He has specified that the relevant ministry has prepared a law that will allow the government to establish a crisis situation in the fuel sector, in order to be able to intervene in this market when necessary.
Bogdan Ivan: “Right now, what interests me most is for the price of fuels not to increase due to lack of supply, shortage or other reasons. This is resolved. Secondly, in order to limit the effects on growth to the maximum, I proposed a regulatory framework through which the government, depending on budgetary constraints, depending on how it can work on these scenarios, will make a decision. Right now, the Romanian government must make decisions. We are in a complicated situation, we have options on the table. From the point of view of supplying the oil market, from the point of view of the gas market, we have already made very firm and important decisions through which we ensured that for a year, no matter what happens, the price for natural gas household consumers will not increase.”
We remind you that the Energy Ministry proposes several measures to combat the increase in fuel prices, measures included in an internal working document that was sent to the Prime Minister and the coalition leaders. These include an emergency ordinance on declaring a crisis situation on the crude oil or petroleum products market, reducing excise duties or taxes, introducing state aid schemes and temporarily restarting the Lukoil refinery in Ploieşti (south). According to the minister, Romania now has an average increase in the price of basic petroleum products of approximately 8.7%, compared to Western European countries, such as Italy, Germany or Spain, which have an increase of 20-23%. He claims that Romania has absorbed much better the shock of the increase in gasoline and diesel prices, because the petroleum products market has been regulated. In the Romanian Parliament, Bogdan Ivan declared that the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is an extremely delicate subject, but, at the moment, Romania is not in a situation of not having enough fuel – neither diesel, nor gasoline, nor natural gas.
In his turn, Finance Minister Alexandru Nazare has given assurances that the executive is monitoring the evolution of gasoline and diesel prices and will announce publicly when a decision is made in relation to them. Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has also recently stated that the government is monitoring the evolution of fuel prices in order to mitigate their impact, but has stressed that the price increases cannot be canceled. And on Tuesday, President Nicuşor Dan said, after a meeting with representatives of OMV Petrom, that the company would collaborate with the government so that Romania overcomes the energy price crisis. ‘We will continue to monitor the situation and act to protect citizens and the economy,’ the head of state said. (LS)
