Fuel: UNEM to Meloni and Pichetto – tax levies put investment at risk
(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Oil companies have taken a stand and, in a letter sent to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, they warn of the risk of ‘further tax levies’ on the sector (read: windfall tax) which “would drain investment capacity and act as a further disincentive to operating in Europe, in a context where major international groups – as the president of the sector association, UNEM, Gianni Murano, writes – are already considering channelling new investments into other, more competitive parts of the world”. This is reported today by *Il Sole 24 Ore*. In the letter, the association also points out that the Italian refining sector, like other sectors, has borne the brunt of the IRAP increase introduced by Decree 21 of 20 February, and that industrial prices in the first seven months of the year “after tax, were on average 0.03 euros per litre and 0.08 euros per litre lower for petrol and diesel than the EU average.” The sector “has therefore responded to the government’s calls for the utmost attention to be paid to fuel costs, and the contribution calculated on the total volume of petrol and diesel supplied during the same period stands at approximately one billion euros below the European average”. Not to mention that refining margins in the European Mediterranean region “have been significantly reduced in recent years, with an average gross margin from January 2021 to July 2026 of 4.6 dollars per barrel, well below the average operating costs of complex refineries (IEA data of 12 August 2026)’. The sector, therefore, risks a further downturn if it is subject to additional levies that will ultimately drive investment elsewhere, with the risk of further increasing dependence on imports of refined products and triggering further losses of skilled jobs and industrial expertise.
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