Oil companies expect 10% lower sales

The first three months of the year brought the most important oil market players declines of between 4 and 9% in sold volumes on the retail segment. Whilst most companies banked on a sales pick-up in the second half of 2010, the government's austerity measures offset this estimate, with the fuel market heading to the second year of consecutive slides after demand shrank by 6% in 2009. Despite the falling sold volumes, oil companies had an advantage that prevented the slump from being strongly felt in turnovers: the speedy rise of international quotes for petrol and diesel oil in parallel with the strong RON decline against the dollar. Since the start of the year, in the case of Petrom, petrol prices have gone up 8.5%, while diesel oil has become 10.7% more expensive. Oil companies say that at least on the retail segment sales are likely to contract by as much as 10%, more than last year.