The price of fuels returns to exceed the maximums of this year

BarcelonaThe price of gasoline maintains its upward trend in Spain and has added its twelfth consecutive week of increases, reaching a new annual high, while diesel has resumed the climbs that thus eliminate the effect of much of the tax cuts due to the activation of the safeguard mechanism in September.

Specifically, the average price per liter of diesel has risen 4.58% compared to last week, to stand at 1.918 euros, according to data from the European Union Oil Bulletin consulted by Europa Press. In this way, the price at the pumps for a liter of diesel has seen a large part of the reduction it registered due to the reactivation approved by the Spanish government of the 20 cents per liter cut at the beginning of September evaporate.

Regarding the average price per liter of gasoline, it has climbed this week to 1.928 euros, after becoming 3.32% more expensive compared to last week. With this new increase, the price of gasoline has accumulated a 30% rise since the end of June. Furthermore, it maintains the overtaking of diesel that it carried out two weeks ago, so it now exceeds the cost of diesel for the first time since March.

With this week's prices, filling an average 55-liter diesel tank has a cost of 105.49 euros, about 28 euros more than a year ago, when it amounted to about 77.55 euros. For its part, for gasoline vehicles, filling an average tank (55 liters) currently entails an outlay of about 106.04 euros, about 25 euros more than a year ago, when it stood at 81.4 euros.

These prices are the national average, which means that in many Catalan municipalities the cost of fuel is even higher, as Catalonia usually has higher prices than most places in the State.

The upward trend of the last few months since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine is causing both fuels to approach the highs they registered during the summer of 2022, in July, when gasoline reached 2.141 euros and diesel 2.1 euros. The price of fuel depends on multiple factors, such as its specific quotation (independent of that of oil), the evolution of crude oil, taxes, the cost of raw materials and logistics, and gross margins. Furthermore, the evolution in the price of crude oil is not transferred directly to fuel prices, but rather does so with a time lag.

Still below EU prices

However, at these levels, the price of 95 octane unleaded gasoline in Spain remains below the European Union average, which stands at 2.092 euros per liter, and the eurozone, with an average price of 2.157 euros. In the case of diesel, the price in Spain is also lower than the EU average, which is 2.226 euros, and the eurozone, where it marks a price of 2.262 euros.