Find out which is the cheapest gas station in your province and the evolution of fuel prices
The price of gasoline remains at the same figures since last Friday. Today, Monday, March 21, the average price per liter of the SP 95 is 1.79 euros, while diesel rises slightly to 1.778 euros. In the Basque Country, gasolite also shows cost stability. The liter is paid at 1,813 euros and that of diesel at 1,817 euros, practically the same as the weekend.
This downward trend may increase from April when the Government publishes a decree to lower the prices of gasoline, electricity and gas. Meanwhile, the suppliers have gotten their act together and launch offers to attract new and old customers who have left. Repsol offers a 10-cent discount if the payment is made through the Waylet application. A similar advantage is gained by loyal customers at the Costco supermarket in Sestao.
Last week the strike was held for the escalation of diesel called by a state platform of self-employed, and supported in Euskadi by Hiru. It caused a major blockade on Tuesday in the Port of Bilbao, the main commercial gateway to the North of Spain. The strike did not have the support of the employers of the sector and neither with that of some professional associations with a presence in the terminal, but most of the nearly 800 truck drivers who operate with containers and general merchandise joined the strike as it progressed. the day. «It is being downloaded but it is no longer reloaded. The thirty companies that work in this field have practically stopped providing service because the carriers have stopped, ”point out sources from the union. Diesel, which has remained stable in recent days, has increased its price by 53% compared to 2021.
Price evolution
This price level will prevail in the coming weeks, among other things, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And that the price of diesel exceeds that of gasoline, it is not a coincidence either. From the service stations they describe this fact as “crazy”. “We are as surprised as the consumers. The only explanation we have is in the price, in the extreme volatility of the price of crude,” says Nacho Rabadán, general director of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Entrepreneurs (CEEES), who also explains that in recent days this volatility affects and to both oil and refined products. «We are experiencing oscillations that make any forecast impossible. There are service stations that at eleven o’clock have to cancel orders that they have made at nine in the morning because filling the tank with the new prices can mean paying 9,000 euros more, “insists Rabadán.
The problem is that the price represents a third of the final product that the consumer pays for both gasoline and diesel, so these fluctuations are transferred very quickly and in a very conspicuous way to service stations, especially where more often they have to fill their deposits and on those products that are most in demand. This is the reason why diesel, which is consumed more than gasoline, can become more expensive. There may also be situations in which we find 98 octane gasoline cheaper than 95 and there are ‘low cost’ service stations with higher prices than other oil companies. By consuming less there are gas stations that have reserves in their tanks from when it was cheaper, while since then they have had to renew the stock of the 95 several times, paying more and more for it.
Could this situation at some point generate a lack of supply? «Lack of supply because the product is missing no. Another thing is that at some stations there may be days when they cannot afford the cost of filling the tanks because most are micro-SMEs. In fact, there are experts who believe that it is better for prices to stabilize, even at a high level, than for them to continue so much fluctuation, because this volatility does not allow any calculation to be made,” says the general director of CEEES.
Prices were already on an upward path since May 2021, but Russia’s declared war on Ukraine has shot them up to unprecedented heights. Russia is the world’s third largest oil producer and second largest exporter. Its supply is key to Europe, to which it supplies 27% of crude oil. Tensions have been intensified by the United States’ proposal to dispense with Russian materials, something that is opposed in European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the EU there is resistance to taking such a radical measure given the dependence on the neighboring country, when OPEC has not committed to increasing its supply beyond what was already planned.
– Maximum price Euskadi
But the supply and demand on which the price depends were already altered long before the tensions on the Ukrainian border began. You have to go back to the end of 2020, when the development of vaccines began to revive the world economy. Why? Well, because in the face of the break caused by the pandemic and the consequent collapse in consumption, the 23 members of OPEC+ (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries plus producers like Russia) agreed to control the collapse in the price of a barrel of Brent, which had reached be under twenty euros. And controlling the price means reducing production. Since last summer they have begun to increase it again, but (and despite the political pressures that question the rate of recovery) it does not seem that at the moment they are considering placing it at pre-pandemic levels. In fact, they estimate that they will recover 5.8 million barrels per day, almost 60% of the cut volume, by September.
However, the lower production does not explain by itself the increase in prices. In fact, according to the Spanish Association of Petroleum Product Operators (AOP), it only accounts for 33% of the final price we pay and does not clarify, for example, why today filling the tank costs the same as in 2014, when the price per barrel of Brent was around 108 euros. That is where the gross distribution margin comes in on the one hand and taxes on the other.
– Maximum price Spain:
The gross distribution margin includes, in addition to business profit, all the costs inherent to the storage and transport of fuel to the service station, as well as regulatory obligations. Among these, one of the most significant is the contribution that oil product operators must make since 2014 to the National Fund for Energy Efficiency (FNEE), a contribution that affects the consumer. According to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), this margin is also now in Spain at historical maximums: in November 2021 it reached 27.7 cents per liter of gasoline 95 compared to 17 in 2014. The AOP calculates which represents 17% of the final price.
Finally, you have to take taxes into consideration. Fuels are one of the most intervened and taxed products in Spain, where the tax burden accounts for approximately half of its final price; 32% for Special Tax on Hydrocarbons and 18% for VAT (21% of the general rate is applied), according to the Spanish Association of Petroleum Product Operators. In addition, by allowing the collection of approximately 21,500 million euros per year, it is a way of encouraging the use of less polluting energies than those derived from oil. In other words, lowering taxes on gasoline goes against the commitment to sustainability embodied in the document ‘Spain 2050. Foundations and proposals for a long-term national strategy’ in which there is even talk of raising tax rates on consumption both gasoline and diesel. Therefore, it does not seem very feasible that a price reduction will be sought through tax adjustments, as has been attempted with electricity.
Cheapest petrol stations in Euskadi
*More cheap gas stations in Euskadi, here.
What can we do then? Little thing. Just review the advice of experts such as the Royal Automobile Club of Spain (Race) on how to save fuel, give ‘low cost’ gas stations a chance and take into consideration the comparisons of the cheapest service stations made by the National Commission of Markets and Competition in its ‘ Informative Bulletin or organizations such as the OCU.
Cheapest gas stations by provinces
*More cheap gas stations in Spain, here.