He gasoline price is at its lowest since the beginning of February and that of diesel marks an annual minimum, according to data from European Union Oil Bulletin corresponding to last Monday collected by OKDIARIO. Thus, the cost of fuel chains drops again for a week just before the return of operations. summer vacationwhich begins this Friday and will last until next Sunday.
In the specific case of diesel, the average price per litre stood at 1,437 euros, down 1.1% compared to 1,453 euros compared to the previous week, to chain its sixth consecutive decline and mark its lowest level since the beginning of July 2023.
In the case of the average price of liter of gasolinefell last week, in its seventh consecutive decline, by 1.13%, to fall to 1.565 euros, its lowest level since the beginning of February.
The price of gasoline
Thus, gasoline has accumulated a drop of 3.9% and diesel a drop of 4.2% since they began a downward spiral in July, coinciding with dates marked by the holiday period summer and in which most car trips There are usually some throughout the year.
The average price of both fuels started 2024 by recording its first increases in three months, after accumulating one decline after another since the end of September 2023, which led it to end last year at the lowest levels of the year, adding a depreciation almost 15% for gasoline and more than 13% for diesel.
With current prices, fill a tank An average of 55 litres of petrol costs around 86 euros, which is around 8.6 euros less than at the same time last year, when it was around 94.6 euros.
For diesel vehicles, filling an average tank (55 liters) currently represents an expense of around 79 euros, approximately 9.6 euros less than the same week in August 2023, when the price was 88.6 euros.
August represents the busiest month of the year in terms of vehicle movements, with a forecast of General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) out of a total of more than 48 million trips. Of these, nearly 8.3 million trips were planned for the week of the long weekend of August 15, the day with the most trips of the entire year.
This weekend, the summer return operation begins, which will last from Friday, August 30 to Sunday, September 1.
Furthermore, the average price of a litre of diesel, with the drops of recent weeks, remains below the levels it was at before the outbreak of the crisis. Russian invasion of Ukrainewhich began on February 24, 2022, when it was 1,479 euros per liter. Gasoline also remains slightly lower, since at that time it was priced at 1,591 euros per liter.
Likewise, both fuels They remain far from the peaks recorded in the summer of 2022, in July, when petrol reached 2,141 euros and diesel 2.1 euros.
Diesel prices have now been lower than petrol prices for 78 weeks, remaining within the usual range before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which sparked the diesel price was more expensive than gasoline continuously from August 2022 until mid-February 2023, when the momentum broke.
The price of fuel depends on multiple factors, such as its specific price (independent of that of the oil), the evolution of crude oil, taxes, raw material and logistics costs and gross margins. Furthermore, the evolution of the price of crude oil is not directly reflected in fuel prices, but rather with a certain time lag.
