Estonia postpones replenishing fuel reserves due to high prices — ERR News
Estonia does not plan to replenish its state fuel stocks in the near future, after part of them was released onto the market in March. The reason is high prices: purchasing fuel for reserves at current prices could push them even higher, ERR News reports.
Stocks are sufficient for nearly 120 days
In March, the Estonian Stockpiling Agency released approximately 10% of its reserves. This mainly involved gasoline, as well as smaller volumes of diesel and aviation fuel.
The agency’s head, Ando Leppiman, said that the current state of the country’s fuel reserves is good and their volumes are substantial. According to him, as of the end of August, gasoline and diesel stocks held by the state, companies and importers were sufficient for nearly 120 days.
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The agency will replenish reserves after prices decline. Leppiman noted that it is difficult to determine the timing, as the crisis in the Middle East has not yet ended.
Limited diesel availability
During the annual meeting of fuel stockpiling agencies in Croatia, where Leppiman is staying, participants discussed the limited availability of diesel fuel. Following these discussions, this was identified as the biggest problem and as having pushed diesel prices to record levels.
Alan Vaht, a board member of fuel company Terminal, explained that stocks in retail networks usually cover between one and seven days of consumption. He stressed that fuel networks do not hold large reserves at terminals. No fuel shortages are expected at Estonian filling stations, but companies are not interested in storing significant volumes of fuel at high prices because of the risk of further price declines.
