Like the unfortunate and persisting case of crude oil theft in Nigeria, fuel theft, smuggling and fraud in Europe has been on the increase, where governments from Poland to the UK are losing between 100 million euros and 1.3 billion euros in tax revenue a year.
Europe's black market is adding to hard times for the refineries as the lowest demand in two decades saps refineries, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). An average 11.6 million barrels of oil a day of crude was processed from January through May in the region's richest economies, the lowest level for any corresponding period since 1989.
Fuel fraud in countries such as Austria and Germany is dwarfed by scams taking place in Eastern Europe, according to PKN Orlen SA, Poland's largest refiner. Smuggling is most prevalent in border areas where gaps in fuel prices are the widest.
European governments are trying to respond, with Czech President signing a law that changes the country's tax code, and Ireland introducing an electronic system this year to monitor fuel movements.
Without measures to contain fuel fraud, there may be "a snowball effect, which will take years to be stopped", the Polish Organization of Oil, Industry and Trade said in an April report.
No comments:
Post a Comment