Filling up a tank with gasoline this long weekend in August was five euros more expensive than last year with a discount of 20 cents

2023-08-17 11:49:21

After multiple consecutive increases, drivers have received the worst news of the summer: filling a tank with gasoline already costs more than on the same dates last year, when prices were skyrocketing due to the war in Ukraine but the Government eased the disbursement of consumers with the discount of 20 cents. According to the data recorded by the EU Oil Bulletin in the week of August 8 to 14, fuel prices rose for the sixth consecutive week, coinciding with the operation from the second half of the month and with the August long weekend. Specifically, gasoline cost 1.692 euros per liter, 0.7% more than the previous week, thus touching the maximum price so far in 2023. For its part, diesel rose to 1.586 euros, 2.19 % more and its highest price since the end of February.

With these new increases, the price of both fuels also exceeds the levels they reached before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine due to the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022 and which, in the case of diesel, was 1,479 euros per liter, and, for gasoline, 1,594 euros per liter.

This upward spiral in the price of fuels occurs in a month like August, in which more road vehicle trips are expected in the year due to the holiday period. In fact, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) estimates more than 49 million trips throughout this month.

The cumulative upturn has been such that gasoline is 5.94% more expensive than a year ago, when with the discount of 20 cents per liter approved by the Government it cost 1.597 euros, while diesel costs only 1. 24% less compared to the 1,606 euros that were paid a year ago. The distances between the prices of last year and the current ones have come closer due to the recent successive increases in prices. However, both fuels remain far from the highs they reached around a year ago, when in July gasoline reached 2,141 euros and diesel 2.1 euros.

Likewise, with this, diesel adds 26 weeks in a row below the price of gasoline. Thus, it remains in the usual situation before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused the price of diesel to be more expensive than gasoline continuously from August 2022 until mid-February of this year, when it broke. that dynamic.

A gasoline tank was 5 euros more expensive and a diesel tank was only one euro cheaper than last year

With these prices, filling an average tank of 55 liters of gasoline cost about 93.06 euros, 5.23 euros more than the 87.83 euros that it cost in the same period of 2022, including the discount of 20 cents per liter that was valid one year ago. Meanwhile, filling a diesel tank amounted to about 87.23 euros, compared to the 88.33 euros that it cost at this point last year, that is, only 1.1 euros cheaper. If we compare the current prices with those of the first operation out of the summer, the one at the beginning of July, a tank of gasoline cost 87.50 euros, 5.54 euros less than now, and a diesel tank cost 79.03 euros, 8.2 euros cheaper.

Cheaper in Spain than in the European environment

With these levels, the price of 95 unleaded gasoline in Spain remains below the average for the European Union, located at 1.813 euros per liter, and for the euro area, with an average price of 1.874 euros. In the case of diesel, the price in Spain is also lower than the EU average, which is 1,715 euros, and the euro zone, where it marks a price of 1,754 euros.