TIRANA, May 7 – UK-based Gulf Oil International has distanced itself from the Gulf Albania scandal which saw thousands of local consumers cheated with cheap pre-paid fuel coupons days before an Albania affiliated company had its operations suspended and its managers disappeared.
The UK based giant says Sun Petroleum Albania, an offshore company operating a chain of petrol stations in the country, had been granted a license to operate service stations under the Gulf brand, but failed to pay the license fees in accordance with the contract leading to the termination of the contract.
“This is obviously a regrettable situation and it is important to understand that Sun Petroleum Albania shpk is an independent third-party company, to whom Gulf had granted a license to operate service stations under the Gulf brand,” says Frank Rutten, the vice president of Gulf Oil International UK Ltd. as quoted in a statement.
Commenting on the pre-paid fuel coupons that customers can no longer redeem, the Gulf vice president said “this in itself is not an action that had in any way been pre-approved by Gulf Oil International.”
“As there are ongoing investigations taking place in Albania and the situation is still to become 100 percent clear, Gulf Oil International cannot make any comment at this time, however we will make every effort to assist in protecting the Gulf brand,” he added.
Albanian prosecutors have issued arrest warrants over two Albanian managers and a Georgian citizen over the fraud scandal that is estimated to have cost a total of €5 million in damage, of which €1.5 million to customers in pre-paid fuel coupons and another €3.5 million in unpaid taxes and debts to suppliers.
Albania’s main opposition Democratic Party says Albanian businessman Besnik Sulaj, who they claim has close links with the ruling Socialists, is behind the fraud scheme. The opposition Democrats claim Gulf used to trade locally produced and refined oil from ARMO refiner which was managed by a company linked to Sulaj for more than a year until late 2017 when it went bankrupt leaving a mountain of debts to the tax administration and unpaid wages to about 1,000 workers.
Last April, Gulf Albania sold thousands of pre-paid fuel coupons as cheap as 120 lek (€0.94)/litre, 30 percent below market prices, in a scheme that is believed to have mostly tricked transport companies.
Due to the high tax burden levied on fuel, Albania paradoxically has one of Europe’s highest oil prices, but suffers one of Europe’s poorest consumption rates.
At €1.42/liter, Albania’s diesel prices are almost on par with the UK and France and considerably higher compared to Europe’s superpower Germany at €1.23/litre, says the Global Petrol Prices portal.
