Fuel Prices Mark Historic Highs
February 24th, 2012
Petrol and diesel prices have maintained their climb this week marking two separate record highs, according to the EU Oil Bulletin. Specifically, a litre of petrol rose above 1.4 euros for the first time and marked a second consecutive week at a record 1.415 euros, after prices increased by 1.6% in the last week, and by 9.1% so far this year.
The price of diesel exceeded its mid-January maximum, after rising 1.3% in the last week, and stood at 1.368 euros per litre. This represents increases accumulating to 6.4% so far this year.
The prices of petrol and diesel are now 10% and 9.7% respectively, higher than in the same week last year, when these fuels were already well above 2009 levels.
According to El Pais, with the current prices, a motorist with a petrol vehicle with a 55 litre fuel tank, will take an average of 77.8 euros to fill the tank, which is 8 euros more than last year, while a diesel vehicle would require around 75.2 euros, almost 7 euros extra.
Current prices exceed the maximums of July 2008, when oil hit a record $147 a barrel, and far from the prices registered in early 2009, when the outbreak of the financial crisis caused a sharp price reduction in the energy markets.
Currently, petrol costs 71% more than the 82 cents a litre it stood at in January 2009, while diesel prices have increased by 64% compared to the 83 cents a litre it stood at in March of that year.
Escalating fuel prices coincide with upward pressure on oil markets caused by factors such as the first suspension of Iranian oil exports to European countries. The price of a barrel of Brent, the European benchmark, yesterday marked its highest in nine months reaching $122 a barrel, $3 more than a week ago, while the Texas changed in New York for nearly $106 a barrel, $5 more than last week.
These prices are still well below the record high of $147 a barrel reached in July 2008, although, once exchanged to euros, are very close to the record. The European currency has been devalued to an exchange rate of $1.3, forcing European countries to do more to buy oil.
Increases in the EU
These price increases in Spain are not isolated and match new records in the EU27, where for the first time a litre of petrol exceeded 1.6 euros on average, and has even reached 1.605 euros. In the eurozone, the average price per litre is 1.637 euros.
Diesel has also marked a record in the EU, with the average in the EU27 exceeding for the first time the threshold of 1.5 euros per litre, reaching 1.501 euros, while in the eurozone it has reached 1.488 euros.
Italy and Greece, two of the countries in the EU with the most difficulties, are precisely those which have the highest prices of petrol, with 1.752 and 1.742 euros per litre, respectively, which is more expensive than prices in the UK, Denmark or Sweden.
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