MADRID, 16 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The average price of a liter of gasoline in Spain this week stands at 1.644 euros, which represents an increase of 0.73%, while in the case of diesel it has risen 0.18%, to 1.592 euros, according to the data from the European Union Oil Bulletin collected by Europa Press.
In this way, the average price of diesel in Spain remains for the fifth consecutive week below that of gasoline, as was usual before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which caused the price of diesel to be more expensive than that of gasoline continuously from August 2022 until mid-February of this year, when that dynamic was broken.
Compared to the first week of 2023, without the 20-cent discount applied by the Government last year, gasoline accumulates an increase of 3.78%, compared to the 4.15% cheaper diesel.
The largest decrease in the price of diesel compared to gasoline occurs after registering a greater collection of reserves of this fuel due to fears of a greater shortage in Europe due to the ban on Russian diesel.
In addition, the main oil companies that operate in Spain have opted to maintain their discounts of 10 cents -which may be higher depending on the degree of loyalty- to their customers during the first quarter of the year.
With these price levels, both fuels remain far from the highs they reached last summer, when in July gasoline reached 2,141 euros and diesel 2.1 euros.
Likewise, gasoline and diesel continue for another week below the amount they marked (1.818 euros in the case of the first and 1.837 euros for the second) before the entry into force of the aid of 20 cents per liter approved by the Government at the end of March of last year and that, since the beginning of 2023, has only been maintained for the group of professionals, which includes carriers, farmers, shipping companies and fishermen.
Compared to the same week a year ago, when the average price of gasoline and diesel skyrocketed in relation to the previous seven days (9.8% and almost 15%, respectively) after the start of the Russian invasion Ukraine (which began on February 24, 2022), the price of a liter of gasoline is 10.89% cheaper and that of diesel is 12.38% lower.
In this way, filling an average 50-liter tank with gasoline costs on average this week about 82.2 euros, that is, about 10 euros less than a year ago. With diesel, this week it costs on average about 79.6 euros, which is about 11 euros less than in the same week of 2022.
In this context, this Thursday the barrel of Brent, a reference in Europe, was trading at around 74.4 dollars, while the American Texas is trading at around 68.2 dollars.
The price of fuels 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. In addition, the evolution in the price of crude oil is not transferred directly to fuel prices, but rather with a time lag.
With these levels, the price of 95 unleaded gasoline in Spain remains below the average for the European Union, located at 1.733 euros per liter, and for the euro area, with an average price of 1.785 euros.
In the case of diesel, the price in Spain is also lower than the EU average, which is 1,695 euros, and the euro zone, where it marks a price of 1,724 euros.
