ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Croatia's oil company INA has minimum supplies of oil at its disposal but they are sufficient to supply the market normally, the head of INA's public relations service, Mario Dragun, told Hina on Tuesday.
Since February, INA has been doing everything to maintain an regular supply of the market, he said. The increase in prices of crude oil on the world market is affecting the national oil giant too. Recently, the media have been saying INA' supplies will last until September 25. Unofficial information, neither confirmed nor refuted at INA, say a tanker with crude oil sailed in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka on Monday. The increase in prices of crude oil, surpassing $35 per barrel at the moment, has resulted in higher prices for oil products in most of West Europe. INA hopes so called floating excise duties will soon be introduced in setting oil
ZAGREB, Sept 19 (Hina) - Croatia's oil company INA has minimum
supplies of oil at its disposal but they are sufficient to supply
the market normally, the head of INA's public relations service,
Mario Dragun, told Hina on Tuesday.
Since February, INA has been doing everything to maintain an
regular supply of the market, he said.
The increase in prices of crude oil on the world market is affecting
the national oil giant too. Recently, the media have been saying
INA' supplies will last until September 25. Unofficial
information, neither confirmed nor refuted at INA, say a tanker
with crude oil sailed in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka on
Monday.
The increase in prices of crude oil, surpassing $35 per barrel at
the moment, has resulted in higher prices for oil products in most
of West Europe.
INA hopes so called floating excise duties will soon be introduced
in setting oil products' prices. Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic
has announced this possibility in late July. It would not change the
retail price but the ratio between the manufacturer's price and
excise duty.
"At INA we had and have great hopes concerning the automatic setting
of prices," said Dragun commenting on signals that oil products'
retail prices would not change before next year.
A normal supply of the market will be possible if INA is given a
brief break through a change in the structure of prices and better
collection of payments, he added.
INA is hoping for government assistance in the collection of
outstanding debts from state and public companies. These exceed 1.2
billion kuna in the cases of power utility company HEP, Croatian
Railways, and Kutina's petrochemical industry.
According to Dragun, these measures, alongside a genuinely strict
refusal to deliver oil product to non-payers, will help prices stay
as they are.
He explained an increased demand for heating oil with media reports
which warned of a possible price increase, recent drops in
temperature, and INA's price, which is lower than with private
retailers. This is the reason behind a considerably higher demand
for heating oil and why we are unable to meet all requests promptly,
Dragun said.
(hina) ha jn