The FINANCIAL — 915,700.5 tons of petroleum products with total value of USD 951,041.5 thousand was imported in Georgia in 2012 according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
By comparison, 2,410.7 tons of petroleum products with total value of USD 4,322.4 thousand were exported in 2012.
Import of fuel has increased in Georgia as 782,721,223 tons was imported in 2011 and 915,700.5 – in 2012.
The list of imported fuel products for 2012 is as follows: 383,744.8 tons of petrol (USD 404,280.1 thousand); 50,943.3 tons of oil (USD 54,450.3 thousand); 459,421.3 tons of diesel (USD 450,652.1 thousand); 3,435.7 tons of black oil (USD 2,324.7 thousand); 17,863.1 tons of lubricants (USD 38,781.7 thousand); 292.4 tons of other products (USD 552,700).
As for the export of petroleum products GeoStat shows that 0.1 tons of petrol (USD 100) was exported in 2012; oil – 0.1 tons (USD 100); diesel – 140.9 tons (USD 366,400); black oil – 1,170.9 tons (USD 827,300); lubricants – 866.7 tons (USD 2,988,300); other products – 232.0 tons (USD 140,300 thousand).
Amounts of 376,470,326 litres of petroleum and 406,250,897 litres of diesel were imported in Georgia in 2011, according to the Union of Oil Products, Enterprisers, Importers and Customers.
Out of total 843, 166, 1 tons SOCAR’s branch in Georgia imported 375, 756, 5 tons of fuel in total in 2012, according to the Association of Oil Product Importers and Distributors. Lukoil Georgia imported 198 285 tons of petrol. According to the Wissol Group the company realized 137,254.007 litres of petrol and 91,532.117 litres of diesel in 2012 that in total roughly equals to 181, 000 metric tons of fuel. For the lower end of the market Wissol buys imported fuel (Diesel Energy and Regular Energy) from Socar. Rompetrol imported 147 825 tons and Gulf refused to share statistics of sales and import, claiming confidentiality of information.
Gulf, which was known in Georgia to be owned by David Kezerashvili (a Georgian politician, who from 2006 to 2008 was the country’s Minister of Defence), was the only company not to reveal its import and realization data to the Association of Oil Importers. Gulf refused to share their statistics with The FINANCIAL of sales and import, citing information confidentiality. The transparency of Gulf worsened after its owner Kezerashvili announced his departure from Gulf.
SOCAR imported a little bit more petrol in 2012 than in 2011. That year SOCAR imported 337,749 tons in total. Lukoil Georgia imported 127,035 tons of petrol and 64,650 tons of diesel in 2011. The remaining 253,287 tons of oil products were imported by Gulf, Rompetrol and Wissol.
Giorgi Kotrikadze, Director of the Association of Oil Product Importers and Distributors, considers the year 2012 to be one of the most successful years for the petroleum sector in Georgia as the companies opened dozens of petrol and gas stations, employed hundreds of extra people, invested in the sector and implemented new technology systems in their stations.
“There was decreased import of gasoline in 2012 compared to 2011 and increased import of diesel, which means that the demand for diesel has increased compared to previous years,” said Kotrikdaze. “Lukoil, Rompetrol and Wissol won the bid for consolidated fuel. This means that they will do their best to improve their service as the competition between them has increased,” he added.
“The oil companies have become more active in opening gas stations throughout Georgia as this business is getting more and more in demand,” Kotrikadze said. “It should be mentioned that Wissol and SOCAR are the most active companies in terms of getting involved in the gas station business in Georgia. It is possible that other companies will be interested in opening gas stations in the future as well as they take into consideration customers’ interests,” Kotrikadze added.
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