Romania extends diesel excise cut: 25% reduction runs to 2027-01-31

The Romanian Government adopted on 2026-10-30 an extension of the 25% diesel excise cut, ahead of the 2026-10-31 expiry. The reduction now runs from 2026-11-01 to 2027-01-31 inclusive with all parameters unchanged, according to the Government press release carried by Agerpres . For hauliers fuelling in Romania, that keeps the pump price about 0.85 RON per litre below the level at the full tax rate, VAT included.

What the Government decided

The measure cuts the excise (the per-litre fuel tax, set separately from VAT) on standard diesel by 25%, the legal maximum. The Ministry of Finance justification note of 2026-10-26 gives the full excise as 2,804.29 RON per 1,000 l. At the 25% step the cut is 701.07 RON per 1,000 l, which leaves 2,103.22 RON per 1,000 l. That works out to 0.70 RON per litre before VAT and about 0.85 RON per litre with VAT.

The legal base is Law 162/2026, which declared a crisis on the petroleum products market until 2026-10-31 and lets the Government extend it by decision for up to three months at a time. This extension uses the full three. The note cites Platts diesel (the wholesale benchmark) averaging 1,475.26 USD per tonne over 2026-09-13 to 2026-10-12, which is 43.6% above the previous 12 months. The decision number and its publication in the Official Gazette (Monitorul Oficial) were not available when this article was written.

What it means for diesel costs

Without the decision, the excise would have returned to 2,804.29 RON per 1,000 l on 2026-11-01. The Ministry of Finance scenario put the 2026-10-12 average of 10.90 RON per litre at about 11.75 RON, which makes a 50-litre fill roughly 42 RON dearer, with market conditions unchanged. trans.info Romania applied the same 0.85 RON to a 600-litre truck tank and arrived at about 510 RON more per fill. We read both figures as the increase that was avoided, not as a forecast of the pump price on 2026-11-01.

Romanian diesel already sits below the EU average. The EC Weekly Oil Bulletin for prices in force on 2026-10-26 lists Romanian diesel with taxes at 2,036.51 EUR per 1,000 l, against an EU27 weighted average of 2,146.19 EUR, about 5% lower by our calculation. Poland, at 1,781.19 EUR, is cheaper, while Germany is at 2,298.00 EUR. Live station prices are on the Logifie diesel price map for Romania .

The cut does not replace the separate haulier refund created by HG 1,094/2025, which returns part of the diesel excise through Autoritatea Rutiera Romana (ARR) for vehicles of 7.5 t gross weight or more. A Ministry of Finance note of 2026-09-03 proposed tying the refund to the cut step to keep the effective excise above the EU minimum, at 0.43 RON per litre for the 25% step. We could not confirm that this rate applies to diesel bought in the fourth quarter of 2026, so check with ARR before budgeting. Fuel is one line of the Romanian running cost, and the TollRo cost per km breakdown covers the toll side.

What happens after 2027-01-31

The cut will not necessarily stay at 25%. The Ministry of Finance resets the step every two weeks, from 5% to 25% in five steps, and it applies only if both the wholesale and pump indicators exceed their 2026-02-01 to 2026-03-29 reference by more than 5%. The level for 2026-11-01 to 2026-11-15 is set from 2026-10-16 to 2026-10-26 data and was not published when this article was written.

The note also says the crisis under Law 162/2026 cannot be extended again on the same terms after 2027-01-31, so only a new crisis could be declared. A bill in the Chamber of Deputies approving Emergency Ordinance (OUG) 24/2026 carries an amendment extending the crisis by law to 2027-03-31, but it was pending and not adopted as of the 2026-10-26 note. We would also watch the EU-level diesel aid ending in December 2026, which our report on the EU diesel aid expiry covers.

Shippers with Romanian loads for November to January can request a rate through Logifie get a quote .