Response of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana to the statement made by the Croatian Minister of the Economy and Sustainable Development
On Wednesday, 28 December 2022, the Management Board of Petrol, d.o.o. from Zagreb and Croatian Minister for Economy and Sustainable Development Davor Filipović held a meeting, after which the Minister made a public statement which contained some inaccuracies that were recapped by several media in Croatia and Slovenia and which require an explanation from Petrol d.d., Ljubljana.
1. In the statement, the Minister said that petroleum product price margins in Croatia are approximately at the same level as in Slovenia and that Petrol wants them to stand at around one kuna (EUR 0.13 per litre), whereas at the moment they stand at HRK 0.75 (EUR 0.10 per litre).
Response of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana:
In the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Croatia, the margins are not regulated at the same level and not comparable. The margin determined by the effective Government Regulation in Croatia is lower than the margin determined by the effective Government Decree for the sales of petroleum products in Slovenia. In Croatia, the margin currently stands at HRK 0.65 (EUR 0.086) per litre of fuel. The formula determined by the Slovenian Decree includes a partial cost for biocomponent blending, whereas it is not included in Croatia, which means that such cost is covered directly from the margin. If a company observes the formula determined in the Decree and does not blend the biocomponent into fuel, such company may be fined pursuant to the regulations which require fulfilling the obligations in the field of renewable energy sources in transport; based on this only, the margin already decreases to HRK 0.61 (EUR 0.081) per litre of diesel fuel, which enables neither covering the costs nor sustainable operations.
Given that the purchasing conditions for 2023 are substantially worse compared to those in 2022 as a result of the more challenging situation in the petroleum product purchasing market due to the embargo on Russian petroleum products, the margin would not be sufficient even if it increased to HRK 0.75 (EUR 0.10) per litre.
In Slovenia, the prices of fuel sold at motorway service stations are determined freely, whereas outside motorways, the margin is limited to EUR 0.0983 per litre of diesel fuel.
The regulatory restrictions, hence, differ substantially between Slovenia and Croatia.
The current regulatory measures in the field of fuel sales are disproportionate. The circumstances justifying the regulation of petroleum product prices no longer exist because the prices of petroleum products have again returned to pre-war level.
2. According to the Minister, Petrol generated profit of around EUR 100 million in the first nine months, “which proves that Petrol is not in such serious trouble”.
Response of Petrol d.d., Ljubljana:
The information about operations provided by the Minister is not correct. The Petrol Group in Croatia (including Crodux Derivati dva d.o.o., which was merged with Petrol d.o.o. at the start of November 2022) generated a loss of EUR 3.5 million in the first nine months of 2022 (with adjusted gross profit amounting to EUR 88.77 million and EBITDA to EUR 23.18 million).