Status: 12/26/2022 9:27 am
For the tank year 2022, the ADAC draws a balance with a full negative record: the prices for diesel and E10 have never been so high. And the price jumps on the oil market even got the Federal Cartel Office on the screen.
For motorists, the year 2022 was one thing above all – expensive. Never before had so much to be paid for fuel on an annual average, as a balance sheet from the ADAC shows. Including the remaining days until the end of the year, E10 premium petrol will have cost an average of around 1.86 euros per liter for the year as a whole. With diesel it is 1.95 euros. The prices thus clearly beat the previous average values from the previously most expensive tank year 2012 – by 27 cents for E10 and for diesel even by 47 cents. Ten years ago, E10 had cost an annual average of 1.589 euros per liter, diesel was 1.478 euros.
War in Ukraine drives up oil prices
The trigger for the sharp rise in prices at the pump was primarily the effects of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the associated sanctions imposed by the West on Russia. As a consequence, the federal government also set itself the goal of becoming independent of energy resources imported from Russia.
Shortly after the outbreak of war, its consequences on the oil market were clearly noticeable. At the beginning of March, the oil price rose to 140 dollars for a barrel (159 liters) of the North Sea variety Brent, which is important for Europe. However, this price increase did not reach an all-time high.
The situation was different for fuel prices: they rose rapidly, especially in the first few weeks after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the first ten days after the start of the war alone, E10 went up by a good 38 cents and diesel by a good 58 cents. At its peak, the price for diesel even climbed to more than 2.32 euros on a nationwide daily average – and was thus even above the maximum value for E10 at more than 2.20 euros.
Bundeskartellamt targets oil companies
The refineries in particular benefited from the rising oil prices. Both the ADAC and the Federal Cartel Office come to the conclusion that the returns for refineries have multiplied. A first interim report by the Cartel Office states that the average net margins in the past year never exceeded three cents per liter of petrol or diesel, and in some cases were even negative. In May 2022, however, the margins for petrol were already a good 15 cents and for diesel around 13 cents. Individual refineries also made a profit margin of more than 25 cents per liter.
Because of these “very large profits”, the federal authority had started investigations into whether oil companies were making unlawfully high profits as a result of the Ukraine war. The investigations are still ongoing, but around a month ago the competition authorities announced that there was no evidence of illegal price fixing between the major oil companies.
However, other factors also play a role in the high price increases for fuel, such as disruptions in existing supply chains. In addition, diesel is increasingly being used in industry as a substitute for gas, which is no longer imported from Russia.
Less consumption due to higher costs
According to the dpa news agency, the high cost of fuel is reflected in exactly the opposite way in consumption. Because looking back over the year as a whole, it remained well below the level before the outbreak of the corona pandemic – although a large part of the corona restrictions had been lifted since spring. This was indicated by the official mineral oil data on the delivery of fuel. Only in the summer months was the level close to pre-Corona times. The reason was the tax cuts that the federal government had decided on as the so-called tank discount.
From the point of view of the ADAC, however, the development in fuel prices is now “in the right direction” again. The price for E10 is already “in the normal range” again. In addition, the price of oil has fallen sharply. The diesel price will also tend to fall in the spring because then the demand for the similar heating oil will fall. On the other hand, it is not possible to reliably predict how long other special factors such as the needs of industry will last.