The new fall of the Oil prices, which yesterday also fell to below $46 a barrelmakes it less painful for Italian motorists to fill up with petrol and diesel. According to the tracking of Energy Newspaper, after the collapse in oil prices in the last week, Eni further cut petrol and diesel prices by 2 cents a litre. Eni's decision will lead to a consequent drop in prices also by competitors in the coming days. On average the diesel price, in "served" mode, is now decidedly below the 1,5 euro threshold (1,47 at Eni while 1,508 is the highest point of the range with Q8 and Tamoil). The monitoring of QE, always on the "served" basis, indicates that even for petrol there are minimum peaks below 1,50 euro per litre.
But it must be noted that the drop in fuel prices in Italy is not proportional to the drop in the price of Brent, which in June hovered around 115 dollars a barrel and which today is below 50. According to some calculations made by Staffetta Quotidiana, the diesel and petrol prices, excluding taxes, decreased respectively by 29 30% and%. Considering the weight of excise duties and VAT on the final price of fuels, the decrease halves to 15,9% for diesel and 14,5% for petrol.
Interesting study carried out by Codacons which compared today's pump price data with that of 2009 when the price of Brent reached $46 a barrel.
In April 2009 “the petrol cost an average of 1,185 euros per litre, while the average diesel price was 1,041 euros. Today, despite the fact that oil prices have reached the levels of 2009, green fuel costs an average of 1,542 euros per liter in the area (1,448 for diesel)”, noted Codacons who, calculator in hand, underline how today a motorist pays for a liter of petrol 0,357 euros more (+0,407 for diesel) compared to April 2009.
On balance, on average today a full tank of petrol costs, according to Codacons, 17,85 euros more than five years ago while a full tank of diesel costs over 20 euros more. However, the Codacons comparison makes no reference to the euro-dollar exchange rate which in 2009 was very favorable for the euro (close to 1,30) and this made crude oil less expensive than it is today.
