Crude Oil Prices and Petroleum Products Market in The European Union

Oil is still the world's main energy source, which accounts for over 30% of total world energy consumption. The European Union along with Croatia, as its youngest member, depends on oil consumption and, more importantly, oil imports. In light of geopolitical turmoil over how the oil prices are formulated, as well as evolutionary changes in ownership of oil resources, it is important to become familiar with the world and European energy trends, with particular emphasis on oil as still irreplaceable energy source. Accordingly, the paper presents the structure of world and European energy production, consumption and imports of oil, and defines the sources and the structure of supply routes as important information in determining energy policy which, among other, has the task of securing energy supply in order to ensure undisturbed economic activity, and everyday life of its citizens. Furthermore, the paper offers a review of prices of petroleum products in the EU, with an emphasis on the structure of the retail prices which allows; price, margin and excise duty comparison throughout the Union. At the end, a brief review of the news in the pricing of petroleum products in the Republic of Croatia is presented.