Moldova's Petroleum Products Market: An Analysis of Regulation, Competition and Prices
Automatically translated summary. The full text is available in Romanian.
A study analyses the petroleum products market in Moldova, examining its regulatory framework, the state of competition and fuel pricing. It finds that regulatory shortcomings undermine competition and that local prices do not follow international price movements consistently, and it proposes recommendations built around three priorities.
The study identifies several weaknesses in the regulatory framework. High barriers to market entry, an inefficient price-calculation methodology and discrimination against small players in relation to large companies all damage the competitive environment. The authors also found an inconsistency between fuel price fluctuations on international exchanges and those on the domestic market.
An econometric model demonstrates that oil companies adjust local prices asymmetrically in response to external changes. The response to price increases is much more pronounced than to decreases, which confirms operators' reluctance to lower local prices when this is possible. To address these systemic problems, the study proposes recommendations focused on three priorities: (i) improving competition in the sector; (ii) improving the regulatory mechanism for price formation; (iii) ensuring the quality of petroleum products placed on the Moldovan market.
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