Petrol prices end 13-week run of rises and fall by 4.6 per cent following latest tax cut

A litre of petrol now costs 1.849 euros on average, while diesel stands at 1.917 euros, according to the latest figures from the EU. This means that both fuels are moving away from the two-euro-per-litre mark, a threshold they had begun to approach following several months of price rises.

The fall in petrol prices also marks a reversal of the upward trend that began in late June. Diesel has broken a shorter run of three consecutive weeks of price rises.

The fall coincides with the entry into force, on 1 October, of the new phase of tax relief on fuel. The subsidy on petrol has risen from five to 20 cents per litre, while diesel had already been benefiting from a 20-cent reduction since the beginning of September. However, the government scheme provides for the discount to be gradually reduced over the coming months: it will be 13 cents in November and six cents in December. The scheme does, however, include an automatic mechanism to reinstate the 20-cent reduction if the price of oil rises by more than 15 per cent.

However, the weekly fall has not offset the sharp cumulative rise seen over recent months. Filling up an average-sized tank remains significantly more expensive than it was a year ago. For a diesel car with a 55-litre tank, a full tank now costs around 105.43 euros, compared with 77.60 euros a year ago. The difference is 27.82 euros per tank. For a petrol car, filling those same 55 litres costs around 101.69 euros, some 20 euros more than a year ago.

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