Fuel prices reflect the bill for poor decisions. Globally, the incompetence of the US administration in managing the intervention in March is being paid for directly. By September, the operation should have been completed, the Strait of Hormuz unblocked, and trade flows resumed. The explosion of prices at the pump in America is 100% the work of an administration incapable of formulating clear objectives and an exit strategy. The Ukrainians are not the ones making gasoline more expensive in the United States when they strike Russian refineries.

The destruction of Russian refineries has regional consequences in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Before 2022, Europe sourced half of its required diesel from Russia. Following the sanctions, these volumes were replaced with imports from the Middle East. With the American intervention in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, attention shifted toward US refineries, for which producing diesel became more profitable than producing gasoline. However, US capacities cannot cover global demand. Massive exports to Europe and Asia have created a deficit even in the American market.

Internally, the Romanian state chose the easiest path through over-taxation and the sacrifice of the economy. While in America taxes account for 12-20% of the price, in Romania and Europe taxes account for half, proving that fiscal policy is fundamentally flawed.

Furthermore, the government's refusal to cut the excise duty on gasoline represents an unfair measure. Gasoline is approaching the threshold of 10 lei, although in the spring, when the Brent barrel had risen to 120 dollars, the price at the pump had not reached this level. Regarding the situation at Cernavoda, the crisis has demonstrated that solidarity is mandatory. The drop in consumption in August confirms that the effort made by industrial companies and the population mattered. Those who ostentatiously turn on all the lights, saying they pay and do as they please, are not punishing the state, but are inflating their own next bill, ROEC emphasized in the analysis.