While fuel sellers currently have to pay a stockpiling fee of €4.70 for every 1,000 litres of petrol sold, this fee will drop to €4.60 from the new year. For the remaining liquid fuels, the stockpiling fee rates will remain at the current level of €3.7 per 1,000 litres for diesel, €3.7 per 1,000 kg for heavy fuel oil, and €7 per 1,000 litres for jet fuel.
Priit Enok, board member of the Estonian Stockpiling Agency, stated that €5.35 million in stockpiling fees is expected to be collected next year.
‘The stockpiling fee is collected on the actual sales volume of motor fuels. We have made our calculations on the assumption that motor fuel consumption in 2025 remains at the same level as today.
We use the money from the stockpiling fee to cover the costs of managing the state’s liquid fuel reserves, including storage, insurance, and oversight. As the Estonian Stockpiling Agency does not have its own fuel storage facilities, almost 90% of the expenses are incurred by ordering storage services from market participants,’ Enok explained.
Pursuant to the Liquid Fuel Stocks Act, the payer of the excise duty has the obligation to pay the stockpiling fee when motor gasoline, diesel fuel, light heating oil, heavy fuel oil, kerosene, or jet fuel is released for consumption.
For the end user of fuels, the stockpiling fee for motor gasoline and diesel fuel is included in the price of fuel at the gas station, and this amount is not indicated separately on the sales receipt. The owner of a private car with an average mileage pays an annual stockpiling fee of around 7 euros on the fuel purchased.
The state stock of liquid fuels lasts for 90 days under normal consumption. In addition, our fuel companies have significant commercial stocks – 63 days for petrol and 43 days for diesel as at 31 October. Commercial stocks of jet fuel correspond to one month’s consumption on an annual average.
According to the Estonian Stockpiling Agency, the supply of different types of motor fuels to the Estonian market is at a good level.
