According to the Competition and Consumer Agency's interim fuel market monitoring report for 2024, the market is largely competitive at this stage, although the Agency talks about the cases took place in the previous year where fuel cost cuts were reflected directly at filling stations with a delay. However, according to the report, despite Russia remains the main fuel importer for Georgia, its share is declining.
According to the Chairman of the Union of Oil Product Importers Vakhtang Iobashvili, price cuts on the European market will not immediately be reflected on the Georgian market given that oil product exporters in Georgia purchased fuel at a different price.
As for quality, Iobashvili told Commersant that both European and Russian fuel meet the Euro-5 standard. The only difference concerns transportation.
"There is not much difference in quality between European and Russian fuel, both meet the Euro 5 standard - the composition is identical.
The only difference is that Russian fuel is imported by rail, while Bulgarian and European fuel is imported by sea. This type of import has its own difficulties, maritime transportation is more expensive, which is why fuel importers prefer Russian fuel. Apart from the ease of delivery, there is no other difference between these fuels.
For example, no one can say that Rompetrol's fuel is cheaper than any other. We also import fuel from Greece and Belarus, so I am sure that Georgia will not face either a fuel shortage or any drastic price hike.
It is worth noting that recently, Russian companies have not been selling us fuel at any discount to have a big price gap between European and Russian fuel.
Arrhythmias are always present in the oil market, but not to such an extent as to be of great importance. Each oil company has its own reserves, where oil purchased at different prices is stored.
The Georgian oil market is differentiated, so we do not expect any problems.
"I don't want to give the impression that we don't like Russian fuel or that someone is prohibiting us from importing it. No one bans Georgian companies to carry out Russian products import; on the contrary, Russia has very good fuel. "In general, the sooner Russian fuel, timber or other products return to the global market, the more stable the global economy will be," Vakhtang Iobashvili notes in his interview with Commersant.
