First price increases in gasoline and diesel after three months of decreases. The respite that consumers have experienced since the end of September has been broken in the week ending January 1, according to data from the European Commission’s Oil Bulletin published this Thursday. In this period, gasoline rose 0.2% over the previous week, to 1.535 euros, while diesel rose to 1.494 euros, 0.07% more.
With these prices, filling an average 55-liter tank costs 84.42 euros in the case of gasoline and 82.17 euros for a diesel vehicle. They are about 3 and 8 euros more than a year ago. It is a consolation that fuels are 13% cheaper than at their peak in September, when they began the downward path.
The price of fuel depends on multiple factors, such as its specific price (independent of that of oil), the evolution of crude oil, taxes, the cost of raw materials and logistics, and gross margins. The decline in fuel prices in recent months has been in line with the fall in the price of Brent oil, the benchmark in Europe. Despite the open war between Israel and Hamas, crude oil has lost 15% of its value since October 19, when it was trading at $92.40, and this Thursday it was trading below $79.
The tension in the Red Sea also does not seem to be weighing on the price, with the attack by the Houthi rebels on international ships transiting the Bab el Mandeb Strait.
In comparison with the rest of the Old Continent, the Netherlands has the most expensive gasoline in the community bloc (1.89 euros), followed by Denmark (1.85 euros), France (1.81 euros) and Italy (1 .77 euros), while the cheapest is found in Bulgaria (1.33 euros) and Malta (1.34 euros). In terms of diesel, the most expensive is in Finland, with 1.86 euros, and the cheapest in Malta, with 1.21 euros.
