Sources: Government considering scrapping compensation for fuel pump prices after significant price drops

The Ciucă government is currently discussing a possible decision to end the current mechanism that compensates the price of fuel at the pump, government sources told G4Media.

The decision came on the government’s table after diesel and gasoline prices dropped significantly, reaching even the level before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It should be noted that if prices start to rise again, the compensation mechanism may be reintroduced, according to the sources cited.

Fuel price compensation was announced by the government in June amid rapidly rising prices.

Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă announced that the government had decided to compensate 25 bani of the price of each litre of fuel at the pump, with another 25 bani to be compensated by petrol station operators – an amount to be deducted from taxes and duties owed to the state budget.

The measure, which was originally supposed to be in place for three months, was extended until December.

An Economedia.ro analysis on Tuesday 19 December shows that standard gasoline and diesel was cheaper at Petrom again on Tuesday morning, by 10 bani per litre. The series of unprecedented fuel price cuts began in mid-November. Since then, the price of standard petrol has fallen by around 1.20 lei per litre and standard diesel by around 1.30 lei per litre.

A litre of standard gasoline costs between 6 and 6.06 lei at Bucharest stations, according to Monitorul Preturilor and Peco-online.

A litre of standard diesel costs between 7.16 and 7.19 lei. These are the pump prices, valid after the 50 bani compensation is applied