Up to 30% of the fuel sold on the market—which is distributed by 6% of the country’s gas stations—is counterfeit, smuggled, or adulterated. The revenue lost by the state amounts to 1 billion euros per year. This was emphasized during a press conference held at the Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday by the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Gas Station Owners and Fuel Traders(POPEK), Mr. Themis Kiourtzis, in the presence of the Secretary-General Yiannis Mavrakis and a member of the Federation's Board of Directors Christos Stavrakis.
At the same time, Mr. Kiourtzis noted that while international oil prices rose by 100 % from January 1, 2021, through June 1, 2022, Prices in Greece rose by more than 200% during the same period.
«Refining companies and the government have tripled their profits and revenues, while we gas station owners are fighting to save our businesses,» emphasized Mr. Kiourtzis, referring to the financial ruin of gas stations—which are family-run businesses—as they struggle to survive on profit margins of around 3%-4%.
The problem of illegal activity in the fuel market has grown exponentially over the past three years, and after Athens was flooded with contraband fuel, this practice is now spreading to Thessaloniki and other urban centers because «there are no inspections.».
Η fuel theft This is done in three ways: either through fuel intended for export that is not taxed but is never actually exported, or by adulterating the fuel with solvents, or by theft at the pump.
The input-output system, which has been mandatory since 2013, is supposed to work properly, he said. «However, every electronic system has been tampered with, so that when a gas station owner adds contraband fuel, it isn’t recorded correctly.».
Today, there are 30–35 systems from different companies on the market, and the data sent to the General Secretariat Information Systems are fictitious; he called for the government to create a unified platform modeled after mydata.
The president cited as an example figures released by the government as «successes,» as he put it. Although it was announced that 7.5 million metric tons of contraband LPG had been seized over the past year and a half, the offenders were not named. «I’m sorry, but consumers shouldn’t have known who possessed it. Those names shouldn’t have been revealed so that consumers would know where they obtained legally sourced fuel,» he asked.
«We don’t want cheap fuel; we want fuel prices that are consistent across Europe. Are we supposed to buy fuel from Slovenia, Italy, or Bulgaria? In Bulgaria, diesel costs 1.40 euros, while in Greece it’s 1.85–1.90, and that’s because Greece has such high VAT and excise tax rates,» stressed the president of the EETH Michalis Zorpidis who is active in the tourism industry , addressing them representatives of ENBETH and POPEK.
