Slovenia will release oil products from its reserves amid a rise in market demand triggered by the war in the Middle East and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, energy minister Bojan Kumer said on Thursday.
"Due to increased demand, we will relieve the supply of petroleum products to the domestic market in the coming days by providing additional stocks from mandatory reserves," Kumer said in a press release. The goal is to maintain reliable supply and reduce the pressure on people and the Slovenian economy to the greatest extent possible, he added.
Slovenia is entirely dependent on imports of oil products, mainly through the Port of Koper and Mediterranean routes. As this is one of the key routes for the flow of oil and gas, the rise in global oil prices is already being felt in Europe.
The Slovenian government therefore reduced the excise duties on fuel on March 9, in a bid to alleviate the impact of rising crude oil prices on the regulated domestic prices of petroleum products.
However, due to the turmoil on the global oil markets, demand has increased additionally along Slovenia's borders, where prices are much lower in some places than in some neighbouring countries. "Therefore, the main risk today is logistical bottlenecks in the supply to individual filling stations," Kumer said.
The government remains in regular contact with fuel distributors and will re-examine the situation in the next days, Kumer said, pointing out again that there is enough fuel and that the reliability of supply to the local market is not at risk.
He said that Slovenia has also recently strengthened its natural gas supplies, especially under a contract with Algeria, and increased the capacity for imports from Italy and Croatia.
(SeeNews, March 12, 2026)
