Fuel Crisis: The Price of Diesel Reaches a New Record in Europe

The price of diesel reached a new record last week with a weekly average of 2.24 euros per litre in the European Union, an increase of one cent compared to the previous week

The price of diesel reached a new record last week, with a weekly average of 2.24 euros per liter. An increase of one cent compared to the record of the previous week, according to a compilation of national data published this Thursday by the European Commission.

Average price records were broken in twelve of the 27 member countries including Belgium, Italy, Romania and Poland, according to an AFP analysis of data transmitted weekly to Brussels by national authorities since 2005. These data reflect the prices displayed by service stations, sometimes at the beginning of the week or at the end of the previous week, depending on the country. The price of a litre of diesel, the main fuel for road transport of goods and agricultural machinery, exceeded 2.50 euros in Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland, and reached 2.44 in Germany.

More than 60 cents increase before the war in the Middle East

French service stations – excluding overseas and Corsica – posted on Friday a litre of diesel costs 2.37 euros on average, down very slightly over one week. These data, from the Commission’s oil bulletin, also include taxes, which vary between countries and represent on average 40% of the price paid at the pump in the block, but do not take into account targeted aid, such as that for large rollers in France.

The aggregate average at the level of the 27 is weighted according to the fuel consumption of each Member State in 2024. It was 1.59 euros per litre in February, before the outbreak of the war in the Middle East by American-Israeli strikes on Iran. Since the end of February, fuel prices have been pushed upwards by the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, where around 20% of the world’s hydrocarbons usually transited, and subsequently by the blockade of Saudi exports to the Red Sea by the Houthis and Ukrainian strikes against Russian refineries.