osition and perspectives of the oil-refining industry - comparison of Central and Eastern European Countries

Being non-renewable source of energy, oil maintains the largest contributor to the energy mix of all counties in the world. Consequently, oil-refining industry is a field of particular concern for the governments and society. This work focuses on oil-refining industry in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. This topic is very sensitive for CEE counties due to continuously rising energy prices, vulnerability of the supply security and current EC regulations concerning emissions trade and common environment policy. This thesis aims to answer to question what will happen to the industry in CEE counties after implication of new EC regulations and development of the renewable sources of energy. For this purpose, SWOT analysis of the industry in different counties was performed, highlighting major strengths and potential threats. Further analysis describes major mergers and acquisitions in the industry, FDI and current problems of trade imbalance. Particular attention is given to the security of supply and dangerous dependency on the crude oil imports. The results show that some EC policies and regulations could be potentially perilous for the counties which have large crude reserves and developed oil-refining and petrochemical industry, influencing such factors as cost of production and competitiveness of the product in the market. However, further development of renewable sources is often the only option available for the counties with no fossil fuel reserves and poor developed refining infrastructure, aimed to eliminate ever-increasing energy dependency.