Oil companies operating on the domestic market last year spent 10 times more than Slovakian companies on their corporate image and almost six times more than Hungarian ones.
Petrom, the biggest Romanian company, Rompetrol, the oil group run by businessman Dinu Patriciu, OMV, the Austrian group including Petrom in its portfolio, and MOL Romania, the domestic arm of Hungary's MOL oil group, last year took around 44m euros out of their pockets (calculated at rate card) to bolster their profiles, while oil companies in Slovakia spent only 4.4m euros and Hungarian ones spent 8m euros for this purpose. These are the conclusions of a survey conducted by Initiative Media and presented by MOL Romania.
"Investments are directly tied to the level of competition on the market. The fact that in Romania media expenses tend to be much higher than in Slovakia and Hungary is extremely pertinent. This reflects the level of competition in Romania," believes Cristina Osiescu, marketing manager with MOL Romania.
Another aspect that MOL took into consideration when differentiating the domestic market from the two foreign markets is the demand for oil products. "Demand is very high in terms of volume on the retail market. Demand is much bigger than in Slovakia and Hungary. (...)," says Osiescu.
In Romania, the oil product market last year revolved around 4.1bn litres, 21% higher than in Hungary and almost 3 times higher than in Slovakia.
At the same time, in terms of consumption per capita, Romania consumes less fuel than Hungary and Slovakia.
"This depends on living standards. The difference is visible in terms of the consumption of diesel oil. We are now witnessing a process of market 'diversification', a phenomenon also gaining momentum in Hungary, but less strong in Slovakia, where consumers still favour petrol," explains Osiescu.
The Romanian oil product consumer's profile also indicates the reason why all oil companies have started operating massive investments in order to develop alternative non-oil services.
According to the Boston Consulting Group, almost half of Romanian consumers are attracted by services and quality, while only 21% of Slovakian and 36% of Hungarian consumers consider these aspects important.
The paradox of the market comes from the high number of indifferent consumers. 27% of Romanians are not picky when it comes who supplies their oil products.
Another interesting feature of the Romanian market is the fact that there is not always a proportional relationship between the number of filling stations and the market share of a company.
Another series of differences emerges on the refining segment. Romania ranks fifth in terms of refining complexity and 11th in terms of refined volumes.
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