Petroleum Agency (APETRA)

APETRA (Agence de Pétrole – Petroleum Agentschap) manages Belgium's security stocks. The agency was created by the Act of 26 January 2006 on the holding of a mandatory stock of petroleum and petroleum products and the creation of an agency to manage part of this stock (...) and became the sole manager of Belgium's security stocks from 1 April 2012.

Management of security stocks includes the following:

• purchase of petroleum and/or petroleum products;
• contracting with registered oil companies and foreign oil companies on the provision of those products, with APETRA having the right to purchase those products in the event of a crisis;
• purchase, construction and/or rental of storage capacity to stock the supplies APETRA purchases as security stock.

APETRA and its operation are financed by the so-called APETRA contribution, which is part of the calculation of the maximum prices for petroleum products. The audit of the financial situation, the annual accounts and the correctness of the transactions to be reflected in the annual accounts with respect to the law and APETRA's Articles of Association is entrusted to a board of auditors consisting of two members, including the Court of Audit. The Court of Audit prepares an annual report on the performance of public service tasks for the information of Parliament.

The Directorate-General for Energy of the FPS Economy sits on APETRA's Board of Directors.

APETRA regularly needs storage capacity in Belgium, but also in nearby EU Member States. Before a company can qualify to store APETRA stocks, storage facilities must be registered with the Directorate-General for Energy of the FPS Economy. The following registration form (DOC, 44 KB) must be submitted to the Directorate-General for Energy at the following email address: petrole-fapetro@economie.fgov.be. To be eligible to store APETRA stocks, storage facilities must meet certain additional conditions. For further information, please visit APETRA's website.

APETRA contribution

The APETRA contribution is the amount that companies with mineral oil excise numbers must pay directly to APETRA for each product category when these products are released for consumption. The amount is intended to finance APETRA's operating expenses.

This contribution is charged to the end consumer through the pricing structure of the Programme Agreement. Anyone who purchases any of the petroleum products concerned contributes to the co-financing of the APETRA contribution through the final price.

1. Each quarter the Directorate-General for Energy of the FPS Economy calculates the APETRA contribution for each product category.

The exact formula of the APETRA contribution and the definitions of the parameters can be found in the Royal Decree of 4 October 2006 laying down the method of calculation and collection of the contribution for APETRA.

The FPS Economy communicates the amount of the APETRA contribution via its website at the latest 15 calendar days before the beginning of a new quarter.