It is understood that the price of diesel at gas stations in many European countries has recently been higher than gasoline prices, and this trend is influenced by the Russian Ukraine War. Considering that Russia is the largest diesel supply country in Europe, this trend will become more obvious as the EU stops from being imported from Russia. According to the EU Statistical Bureau, the EU imported 25.5 million tons of diesel from Russia in 2019, while gasoline was 18.4 million tons.
The main reason for this situation is the unbalance of demand for gasoline and diesel. The number of diesel vehicles is significantly more than vehicles using gasoline: at the end of last year, there were 28.9 million cars in Spain. Among them, 64.7% are diesel power models, that is, 18.7 million models are diesel power, 35.3% are gasoline power models, totaling 10.2 million units. This situation also appeared in France and other markets: as of the end of 2020, there were 38.3 million cars in France: 39.6% were gasoline power models, more than 14 million vehicles, 57.2% (about 22 million) were diesel power models.
According to data from the EU Petroleum Bulletin, diesel prices rose about 58%within a year, while gasoline rose by 38%. The rise in diesel prices will not only affect the owner of diesel vehicle, the increase in fuel and transportation costs will drag the national industry, and the cost is directly passed on to consumers.