Relief For Drivers In Spain As Average Price Of Petrol Drops For First Time In Three Months

THE average price of petrol dropped in Spain this week for the first time in three months.

According to the latest data published this Thursday, October 5 by the European Union Oil Bulletin, a litre of petrol stands at €1,751, a drop of 0.45 per cent in the last seven days.

However, the price of diesel has continued to rise. It has now recorded thirteen consecutive weeks of increases to stand at €1.687/litre after going up by 0.11 per cent. That is the highest level since the end of January.

Thursday’s data show that petrol has finally ended its upward spiral that added more than 10 per cent to the price since July. Diesel meanwhile appears to be unstoppable at the moment, racking up an increase of 17.3 per cent in the last three months.

With these latest prices, filling an average 55-litre tank with petrol currently amounts to about €96.30. That is compared to the €81.18 euros – about €15.12 less – that it cost at this time last year when the discount of 20 cents per litre was still in force.

In the case of diesel, filling the same sized tank with diesel would cost about €92.78, about €4.34 more than the €88.44 it cost in the same period of 2022.

Prices are driven by the price of raw materials

This upward spiral in fuel prices in recent months has been driven mainly by the rise in the price of its raw material, oil. However, the price of crude oil has recently levelled out after a few weeks of strong increases that led Brent to almost reach $100 per barrel at the end of September.

A barrel of Brent – a reference in Europe – was trading at $85 this Thursday, while American Texas was trading at around $84.

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.

Furthermore, the evolution in the price of crude oil is not directly transferred to fuel prices but rather does so with a time lag.

Spain is cheaper than the EU and Eurozone

With these current levels, the price of 95 unleaded petrol in Spain remains below the average of the European Unio where it stands at €1,824/litre. It is also below the Eurozone, where the average price per litre is €1,905.

In the case of diesel, the price in Spain is also lower than the EU average, which is €1,789/litre, and in the Euro zone, where the price is €1,848.