TIRANA, Jan. 27 – Albania’s Central Technical Inspectorate says it fined 61 oil and gas companies in late 2014 because of lack of documentation and poor quality.
The companies mainly involved in retail sales in rural areas, were fined from 100,000 to 300,000 lek (Euro 700 to 2,100).
Albania’s business community represented by the Konfindustria Association has also expressed its concern over the poor quality of fuel, saying that 20 percent of the amount fuel traded by retail sales includes poor quality mixers, damaging both the state budget and consumers.
With global fuel prices having more than halved since their peak level June 2014, but only slightly falling in Albania, a fierce debate has broke out in Albania where the situation is blamed on lack of competition and the rising tax burden on fuel.
Oil prices in Albania stand at an average of 165 lek/litre (Euro 1.19), down only 14 percent compared to last June when fuel prices embarked on downward trend after a slow-down in manufacturing in China and Europe and increasing supply from North America.
The depreciation of the Albanian national currency against the US dollar which since May 2014 has lost around 20 percent has also had an impact.
Data published by GlobalPetrolPrices.com show Albania’s diesel prices stood at Euro 1.21/litre, higher than Macedonia’s Euro 0.88/litre, Montenegro’s Euro 1.03/litre and Serbia’s 1.17 euros.
