The war in Ukraine is sending fuel prices skyrocketing.

Prices of more than 2 euros per liter are no longer uncommon.

In some cases, an unusual situation has arisen: Diesel fuel has recently become more expensive than Super E10 at most filling stations.

And this despite the fact that the tax on diesel is lower, which usually results in a significantly lower price at the gas station.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in Business.

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Example Frankfurt am Main: Super E10 now costs an average of 1.931 euros per liter there, while diesel costs 1.962 euros.

Not a huge difference, but it's still unusual for diesel to charge more.

This can be observed at an even higher price level in Konstanz on Lake Constance, for example: a liter of diesel now costs 2.045 euros there, while a liter of Super E10 costs 2.045 euros.

Gas station leaseholders say they've been in business for 30 years, but they've never seen that.

It's the same in most cities lately.

On a national average, too, diesel is now more expensive at EUR 1.941 than Super E10 at EUR 1.93 per liter.

On Thursday the prices had already converged, but on Friday evening diesel overtook petrol nationwide.

18 cent tax benefit for diesel

What might that be related to?

The tax benefit for diesel is actually 18 cents per liter.

The coalition wants to go there, but the relevant regulation has not yet been changed.

The coalition agreement does contain a passage on “the tax harmonization of diesel fuel and petrol”.

So far, however, nothing has been changed by law, so that can't be the reason.

The difference in the prices of the two types of fuel at the gas stations varies from time to time, as reported by the ADAC auto club.

In winter, when there is a lot of heating, diesel is slightly more expensive because the production of diesel and heating oil are linked.

In the summer, Super E10 is often more expensive when the travel wave is rolling in many countries.

But the fact that diesel is more expensive after tax than petrol is unusual.

In 2019 there was a situation where the difference in price between petrol and diesel had shrunk to 7 cents.

At that time there were already individual gas stations where diesel was more expensive than petrol - but this was not the case on average nationwide.

At that time, petrol experts had identified not only seasonal factors but also the strong economy as a reason.

Economic developments are having a greater impact on the price of diesel than on petrol.

There are various reasons for this, one is that trucking companies demand more diesel than usual when the economy is good. 

At the moment, however, the price increase is closely linked to Russia's attack on Ukraine.

On February 23, the day before the attack, diesel cost "only" 1.67 euros per liter, after which the price curve went up steeply.

A development that could recently be observed on the international energy markets is that gas oil, a precursor for the production of diesel and heating oil, had risen in price in particular.

Crude oil had also become more expensive in connection with the war in Ukraine.

But the increase in the price of gas oil was even stronger.

The analysts at Commerzbank attributed this to the fact that the market expected that sanctions against Russian refineries would also have consequences and that such oil products would therefore become more expensive. 

Association speaks of "diesel shortage"

At the same time, an unusually strong demand for heating oil was observed among private households.

Oliver Klapschus from the internet portal Heizoel24, to which 500 oil traders report their prices, reported that demand was sometimes four times higher than normal on some days.

The price of heating oil reached its highest level in history at 145.62 euros per 100 liters on Friday.

Along with heating oil, however, diesel seems to have become even more expensive.

A significant part of the diesel normally consumed in this country also comes directly from Russia.

A proportion of around 15 percent is mentioned.

There is no import ban on diesel from Russia.

Nevertheless, many dealers are apparently wary of buying diesel from Russia because of the sanctions.

"There is a shortage of diesel, although there is actually enough diesel available," said the managing director of the foreign trade association for mineral oil and energy, Hans Wenck, of the "Mitteldeutsche Zeitung".