ZAGREB, 18 July 2022 - Economy Minister Davor Filipović said on Monday that for the next fortnight the price of petrol would be HRK 13.02 per litre, down from HRK 13.50, while the price of diesel would go up from HRK 13.08 to HRK 13.43.

Also, fuel prices on motorways and elsewhere will be equated and the government will extend the price cap on blue-dyed diesel to HRK 9.45 per litre for another two weeks, he told the press after a government conference call.

The retail margin stays HRK 0.65 per litre of petrol and diesel, as do excises of HRK 0.80 on petrol and HRK 0.40 on diesel.

"Without these government moves, the price of diesel would have been HRK 15.70 and the price of petrol HRK 14.92," the minister said.

(€1 = HRK 7.5)

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April the 18th, 2022 - A massive 32,000 tonnes of diesel is going to be poured into the market from Croatian mandatory stocks of that fuel following a government decision issued last week. The move was made as more and more countries explore gas and fuel options that minimise any reliance on Russia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, on Thursday, the government decided to release 32,000 tonnes of diesel fuel from Croatian mandatory stocks of oil and petroleum products. The Hydrocarbons Agency will release 12,000 tonnes of said diesel fuel from Croatian mandatory stocks by the end of April and 20,000 tonnes by the end of May 2022.

The Minister of the Economy and Sustainable Development, Tomislav Coric, explained that a meeting of the International Energy Agency (IEA) was held on April the 1st, 2022, at which an agreement was reached to release 120 million tonnes of oil from mandatory reserves in order to send a unique and strong message to international oil markets that there will be no shortage of supplies as a result of the Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.

Although the Republic of Croatia is not a member of the International Energy Agency and has no obligations to engage in these practices, it can participate in the second joint coordinated action with the aforementioned 32,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, or 238,000 barrels converted into crude oil equivalents.

Back in March of this year, the Republic of Croatia participated in the first joint coordinated action to launch Croatian mandatory stocks out onto the market, during which it released 22,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, ie 164,000 barrels converted into crude oil equivalents, Minister Coric explained.

The decision to place Croatian mandatory stocks of oil and other such petroleum products on the market was made by the government, and the Hydrocarbons Agency will release those mandatory stocks onto the market at regular market prices.

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21 March 2022 - Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić said on Monday that he expected fuel prices to go down on Tuesday, with the price of diesel being slightly above HRK 12 and the price of petrol slightly below HRK 12, while the price of blue-dyed diesel would be around HRK 8 per litre.

Ćorić, who was taking part in a reforestation drive in Zagreb's Maksimir Park, told reporters that the state could not guarantee that this would be the start of a process of price decline, adding that that would depend on prices on reference markets and further developments in the east of Europe.

The government last week adopted a directive to buffer the fuel price hike by doing away with the obligation for distributors to mix biofuel with diesel and petrol until the end of the year.

The directive is expected to enable distributors to reduce prices by about HRK 0.50.

(€1 = HRK 7.573601)

March 8, 2022 - The government has made a decision that fixes the margin of oil traders and temporarily reduces excise duties on diesel and gasoline to mitigate rising prices. Thus, as of today, new fuel prices at Croatian gas stations are more expensive. You can follow the latest fuel prices on this page.

The new price of regular diesel is now HRK 12.51, and Class Plus diesel HRK 13.56. Ordinary petrol, ie Eurosuper 95 now costs 12.18 kuna, while Eurosuper 100 costs 13.11 kuna.

Recall, the government has made a decision which fixes the margin of oil traders and temporarily reduces excise duties on diesel and gasoline to mitigate rising prices, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in the introduction to the government session, writes N1.

"Fixing the price could lead to the closure of some gas stations"

If the retail price fix was extended, many distributors in the market would face the situation of operating at a loss, which could lead to the closure of some gas stations, he added.

"In order to avoid such a situation, we will enable their further business by fixing the total margin for diesel and gasoline at 0.75 kunas per liter and 0.50 kuna per liter for blue diesel," said Plenković.

Excise duties and margins will be valid for 90 days

In addition, he added, the amendments to the Decree on Excise Duties will reduce the number of excise duties on diesel and gasoline by 90 lipas per liter of unleaded motor gasoline and 20 lipas per liter of diesel fuel for a period of 90 days.

"In this way, we want to contribute to reducing the price shock on our citizens, and according to our calculations, this will lead to a reduction in state budget revenues from excise duties on energy over 150 million kunas," said Plenković

According to government estimates, the new measures will keep the price increase per liter of fuel, whether diesel or petrol, which would amount to around two kunas in real market trends, from an increase of 80 lipas to 1.20 kuna.

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July 10, 2021 - In its effort to knock down pollution and combat climate change, the European Union will propose a plan to achieve zero carbon emissions based on betting on electric options and no more on petrol and diesel.

Petrol and diesel are going down in history, the future is on electric vehicles, and the European Union on Wednesday is proposing a strategy to achieve carbon neutrality in the fight against climate change in the next decade, reports Index.hr.

The old continent is the cradle of prestigious car brands and has dominated car innovation for more than a century, but the car, which is the number one means of transport for Europeans, is to blame for greenhouse gas emissions.

Faced with this pressure, the European Union set a goal in 2020 to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The European Commission is expected to propose new regulations on July 14 to achieve that goal, and according to several sources, the complete abolition of car emissions that use petrol and diesel from 2035 is being considered.

Electric vehicles will be the only ones able to meet such a requirement and will de facto be the only permitted means of transport in a completely new market.

In 2020, Europe introduced a maximum limit of 96 grams of CO2 per kilometer for car designers, but that amount should be reduced by 37.5 percent in 2030.

The reduction in carbon emissions should thus reach 60 percent in 2030 and then 100 percent in 2035.

Although these figures are still being debated, they are a huge compulsion for the automotive industry, which by 2027 must reckon with stricter pollution regulations for internal combustion engines with the use of petrol and diesel.

Takeoff of electric vehicles

In the automotive market, which has suffered a severe blow from the coronavirus pandemic, electric vehicles are making strong progress.

The share of electric cars is 8 percent of all registered vehicles in Western Europe in the first five months of this year, or 356,000 vehicles, and “which is more than in the whole of 2019,” says German analyst Matthias Schmidt.

The new regulations will further favor electric vehicles and increasingly lead to the rejection of hybrid and hybrid vehicles with charging, which combines a petrol engine and a battery.

This is a major challenge for an industry that employs 14.6 million people in the European Union and that still counts heavily on “transition technology”.

The lobby that has struggled for a long time in an effort to slow the transition is deeply divided today. Most members stress that too fast electrification would raise car prices and destroy jobs in favor of Chinese competition, which is ahead of Europe in batteries.

Volkswagen is ready

The automotive leader of the Volkswagen Group, whose fourth vehicle is sold in Europe, joined U.S. manufacturer Tesla in promoting 100 percent of electric vehicles after the 2015 scandal when he admitted to falsifying test results on the exhaust gases of his diesel engines.

"There is a huge conflict within the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). Because of Dieselgate, Volkswagen has been forced to choose electric vehicles to repair its damaged reputation. The group has agreed to huge investments and is now producing them to comply with future laws," explains Matthias Schmidt.

“Volkswagen is in a perfect position to grab market shares and beat competitors,” he adds.

In June, Volkswagen announced that it would stop producing internal combustion engines in Europe between 2033 and 2035.

"The vehicle has been on the road for an average of 15 years. If we want to completely decarbonize transport in 2050, then we have to sell the last vehicle with a thermal engine by 2035 at the latest," said Diane Strauss of the NGO Transport and Environment for France.

In a classification released in June, the NGO named Daimler (Mercedes), BMW, Stellantis (PSA, Fiat), and Toyota as manufacturers whose projects were rated "unambitious" because they rely heavily on polluting hybrid vehicles.

Renault and Hyundai got better ratings even though they are also far behind Volkswagen and Volvo.

The future of internal combustion engines should be balanced between "2035, which is a premature year from the point of view of industry and society, and 2040 when it will be too late from the point of view of climate," said Pascal Canfin, chairman of the European Environment Committee. parliament.

Canfin advocates the creation of "several billion euros" funds that would help hundreds of small and medium-sized companies related to the automotive industry because it will be affected by the change in technology.

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