The sharp drop in oil prices has sent fuel prices down nearly 40 cents a liter in less than two months, about ten of which are today. But it is the tax cut that allows prices to be lower than they were before the war.
Monday, August 8, half the country on vacation, a little heat is predicted on the beaches … and at gas stations. Fuel prices are currently benefiting from a sharp drop, estimated at about a dime a litre.
Refilling a 50-litre tank today can cost almost five euros less than yesterday. And a trip of 300 km (in a car that consumes about six liters per 100 km) today can cost almost two euros less.
Accounts are the result of evaluation 10 cents reduction for gasoline and 9 cents for dieselwhich will come into force today, although they will not be officially confirmed until tomorrow.
At the heart of this decline are the prices of petroleum products, both refined products and raw materials: last week ended with the international price of oil (measured by the Brent index) just above $94, which in dollars is similar to what took place on February 23, the day before Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, the euro value remains more expensive, as the European currency has depreciated by about 9% against the US dollar since the start of the war.
The fall in oil prices is partly due to the prospects for a cooling economy. But it removed some of the tension that existed over the oil.
Gasoline prices fell nearly 40 cents in less than two months
Simple 95 gasoline should now be sold at an average price below 1.8 euros per liter, the lowest price since the beginning of February, that is, even before the war.
This means that since the peak in Portugal on June 10 (when it was selling at an average price of 2,188 euros per litre), the price of 95 regular gasoline has fallen by almost 40 cents.
The fall in the price of diesel fuel, which today should be sold at a price approaching 1.75 euros per liter (the lowest since the end of February), was slightly less pronounced, but faster.
Since the record high price on June 23 (when a liter cost an average of 2,111 euros), the average selling price of diesel fuel has decreased by a total of almost 35 cents per liter.
This means that, for example, filling a 50-liter diesel tank in a car today costs about 17 cents less than a month and a half ago.
Oil workers still earn more
This decline in final prices, however, does not mean that fuel prices are identical to those in February.
This equalization of prices with respect to February is possible only because the state now levies less taxes than then. Otherwise, gasoline today would be 32.1 cents per liter more expensive, and diesel 28.2 cents per liter.
If the state receives less, and the Portuguese pay almost the same as in February, then other components of the price are more expensive: who sells raw materials, who processes them and who sells them. Including oil companies, which have increased their profits around the world in recent months. António Guterres, UN secretary general, last week criticized oil and gas companies’ “immoral profits”.
