Oil prices have doubled since the beginning of the year, in some days even going beyond the 70-dollar threshold, while the Romanian economy has seen its decline deepen in the second quarter to 8.8% against the same time last year, from 6.2% in the first three months. How threatening are the rising prices of the "black gold" for a falling economy?

Petrom, the biggest company on the market, which stated the following months would be more difficult compared with the first eight months of the year amid the rising unemployment and shrinking purchasing power, believes that if the oil barrel reaches 100 dollars, this will dent the sales of all companies on the segment.

"Romania is caught between the rising oil prices and the worsening economic performances. A 100-dollar price per oil barrel amid the current economic environment of Romania is set to generate problems in terms of sales for all of us. This is why we believe the end of the year will be a difficult one and we're seeing the rising oil prices as a possible threat," says Tamas Mayer, Petrom manager in charge of marketing.

According to some previous statements he made, fuel consumers have become extremely sensitive about prices at the pump, a reason why price hikes are not as easily digested as in the years when they were accompanied by rising wages.

"Oil prices are positively influencing net producers and have a negative impact on net consumers. Since Romania is an oil importer, the rising prices will have an impact over the economy. Still, Romania has bigger oil reserves than many countries in the region and therefore this negative effect is much smaller compared with other countries", explains Janos Hindi, senior economist with Hungary's MOL oil group, present domestically through MOL Romania subsidiary.

There are several factors that have prompted the oil price increase in recent mo