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31Jul 2026

Digi24

On Friday, July 31, Digi24, I spoke with Valentin Chisoceanu about our other pain: the price of diesel. At this moment, what is happening at the pump in Romania has nothing to do with the international Brent quotation, but rather has regional and local reasons behind it. Regional: ... - no more diesel is exported from Russia since July 8. Even if these quantities did not come directly to the European market, the regional market was still supplied. The disappearance of Russian diesel from the global market increases the price. Moreover, Russia is competing with us (importing countries, including Romania) to buy diesel for their domestic market! Local: - fuel import-export structure. Romania is a country that imported 2 million tons of diesel fuel last year alone. - the 3rd largest refinery in Romania (Petrotel-Lukoil) has been closed since November 2025, so it does not refine crude oil, therefore it does not produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene - quantities that used to supply the domestic market and which now have to be imported. - the government's fiscal policy, which invokes European legislation not to reduce diesel taxes. However, Poland (EU member state) reduced the VAT on diesel from 23% to 8% this year, between April 1 and June 30, 2026.

31Jul 2026

Euronews

On Friday, July 31, at Euronews Romania, we talked about the state of emergency, what it helps us with and why it is established. Basically, we are preparing to manage an unpleasant situation. Unfortunately, the Romanian state has lost its project management capacity for large infrastructure projects. We see delays upon delays in most projects where our long-dreamed "energy security" should have come from. In my opinion, in the immediate plan, the solution for survival is individual autonomy. The 350,000 prosumers that Romania currently has (totaling a total installed capacity of almost 4 GW) - this is how we compensate for the state's helplessness and survive the incompetence of the state companies, which should have delivered on time the projects that would have ensured our peace today.

30Jul 2026

Digi24

My discussion on Thursday, July 30, on Digi24, with Anca Orheian, so before the state of alert is instituted, about how we got into this situation, that we have to stop the nuclear power plant and what that means. The unacceptably long delays in the development of investment projects in the last 8-10 years, investments especially in the area of state companies, which were not made and which, if they had been made on time, would have allowed us to go through this new crisis otherwise (without problems).

30Jul 2026

TVR Info

A longer discussion, from yesterday, July 30, on TVR News in which we went through several topics: from the controlled shutdown of the reactors at Cernavoda, to how the prices on PZU reacted, to the storage we don't have and the prosumers we have (around 350,000, with a cumulative installed capacity of almost 4 GW) despite the fact that they were sabotaged at every step.

29Jul 2026

Digi24

Yesterday, July 29, on Digi24, about how our state prefers "fix-solutions" instead of dealing with systemic problems and real solutions. Why is Romania the only country in Europe where the Lukoil refinery is closed from November 2025? Given that other countries (Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany) found formulas to ensure the continuity of the operation of Russian refineries on their territory, despite the American sanctions from October last year. It's no wonder that our diesel prices increase, if we have to import from other countries (therefore, more expensive) everything that Lukoil refines in Romania. How long will this refinery remain closed? Because this is also a factor that pushes fuel prices up in Romania.

28Jul 2026

Tuesday, July 28, at B1.ro, in dialogue with Gabi Mihai about: - the risk of shortages - the dynamic excise tax adopted yesterday for fuel Romania is free to try this tool as well, if it wants to gain experience with the "dynamic excise" (which is a first for our country). Personally, I think that this formula rather reflects the government's preference to protect its income from the state budget than a real concern to help the drivers of this country. ... Why am I saying this? The excise duty on diesel is 2.8 lei/liter. This means that a 5% reduction in excise duty = 14 money, a 10% reduction = 28 money, and the maximum possible reduction is 25% = 70 money. That is, in the best case, we will pay an excise tax of 2.1 lei/liter instead of 2.8 lei/liter (as it is now). And this will have to be calculated and re-evaluated once every 2 weeks, that is, it is more difficult to manage administratively than if it had been a fixed 50% reduction of the excise tax (which would mean - 1.4 lei/liter) without recalculations every 2 weeks. But, even so, it is good that the government adopted at least something in terms of a helpful measure than the option in which it would have done nothing.

26Jul 2026

Digi24

Sunday, July 26, on Digi24, talking about the solutions for getting out of the fuel crisis: 1. The legislative initiative (ref to the declaration of the crisis situation) introduced by the former Minister of Energy Bogdan Ivan, on July 22, which contains good provisions, such as the reduction of VAT on fuel during the crisis situation from 21% to 19%. 2. Ukraine's adjustment of the drone attack strategy in the Black Sea, so that oil tankers carrying Kazakh oil are not targeted. There is also an intervention by Washington next to Kyiv with a request in this regard. I hope it will bear fruit. 3. The protection offered by stocks covering 90 days of importation.

24Jul 2026

Digi24

Friday, July 24, Digi24, about the unfortunate combination of factors that once again brought gasoline to 9 lei and diesel to 10 lei. How long will the suspension of Kazakh oil exports last? Kazakhstan said it is waiting for the "normalization of conditions" to resume crude oil exports. But what does "normalization of conditions" mean? Ending the war in Ukraine? Or the cessation of drone attacks on energy infrastructure? Or, the drone attacks can continue, just to avoid the port of ...Novorosiisk (namely, the terminal where the Kazakh oil leaves)? If until now we have only taken care of the price, now we are entering a stage in which the problem of volume availability is also added.

23Jul 2026

Digi24

Thursday, July 23, on Digi24, in dialogue with Valentin Chisoceanu, about the Eurostat statistics that confirm what we knew (that in Romania prices rise too fast and fall too slowly). But most of our discussion was related to the question: what affects us more - Hormuz or Kazakhstan? Answer: both, but more so the story with Kazakhstan. Very importantly, it must be emphasized that Romania imports crude oil (ie crude oil) from Kazakhstan, NOT diesel. ... What does Kazakhstan mean for the oil market in Romania? In 2025, Romanian refineries processed 11.4 million tons (Mt), of which: - only 2.5 million tons is Romanian crude oil (ie 22%), - the remaining 8.9 Mt is imported crude oil (78%). Of the nearly 9 million tons of crude oil imported last year, 5.4 million (ie 60%) came from Kazakhstan. So, the addiction is great. What can the state do to lower the price? The state knows what it has to do, but it does NOT want to act. However, it may not have anywhere, if the exports from Kazakhstan do not resume within a reasonable time horizon, and the prices go up much too much.

22Jul 2026

Wednesday, July 22, at B1.ro, in dialogue with Gabriela Mihai and Adrian Negrescu about the suspension of crude oil exports from Kazakhstan (the oil that came through the CPC pipeline), a situation that also affects Romania. The key question is: for how long does the export stop? The decision (to pause crude oil exports) comes as a precaution (who wants to see their goods burning?), but we cannot exclude any hidden reason (that of not wanting to antagonize its neighbor from the north - Russia, which ... asked for help with 50,000 tons of fuel, although normally Russia is the one that exports both crude oil and petroleum products). If exports do not resume within a reasonable time horizon, Romania could be in a situation where it will once again look for emergency solutions (new sources or new routes). Kazahtsan crude oil was itself the alternative solution (variant B) when we had to give up Russian crude oil in 2022, we replaced it mainly with Kazakh crude oil. Now, if the oil from Kazakhstan can no longer reach us, a "breakdown solution to the breakdown solution" must be found (that is, option C). The destruction of the Russian refining base will have a cascade effect on the global crude oil market, but also on the regional diesel market. The problem is deepening especially because there is no prospect of recovery (repair) of the Russian refineries. Who is crazy to invest in expensive repairs, when another drone attack comes tomorrow or next week and destroys again everything that was repaired?

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