Many motorists follow it somewhat suspiciously.

Gasoline prices kept going up.

Recently, a liter of diesel cost an average of a good 2.30 euros, and a liter of Super E10 around 2.20 euros.

This price rally got at least a boost parallel to Russia's attack on Ukraine.

The price of crude oil also rose temporarily – but it has long since fallen again.

On Tuesday, the price of North Sea oil Brent fell below the $100 per barrel (159 liter) mark again.

Just a week ago on Monday it had reached almost $140.

Christian Siedenbiedel

Editor in Business.

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This draws attention to the question: Who actually benefits from the expensive petrol?

Are Germany's motorists thus financing Putin's war – because Russia is now earning even more with its oil than it used to?

Or are the petrol station tenants laughing up their sleeves because they finally don't just make money from coffee and rolls in the shop, but also from petrol?

Or isn't it more the mineral oil companies with their refineries that are getting a lot of attention now?

In any case, the ADAC auto club notes that petrol prices have decoupled from oil prices.

"Today, the price of crude oil is roughly where it was two weeks ago - but during this time the price of premium petrol has risen by 38 cents and that of diesel by as much as 56 cents per liter," says ADAC fuel specialist Jürgen Albrecht: “Drivers have to pay the additional amount today and not 14 days ago – this money is earned somewhere in the process between oil production and filling station.” In some cases, transport companies apparently also took the opportunity to raise prices, for example in Rhine shipping – but also they Refineries have "quite good margins" at the moment.

Are Germany's motorists financing Putin's war?

The oil industry itself does not deny that some Western refineries make very good money from expensive gasoline - even if there are differences depending on the location and the margin also depends on how large the shares of diesel and gasoline are in the respective production of an oil refinery.

In any case, Putin is not the big beneficiary of the high petrol prices in Germany.

In the end, the local oil companies deliberately avoided deliveries from Russia on a large scale.

Russian oil is trading at a discount.

The price had already fallen when the oil companies BP and Shell announced the first sanctions.

Oil companies benefit from expensive gasoline

Monika Schnitzer, an economics professor in Munich and a member of the Economic Experts Council, emphasizes that the petroleum price rises benefit the mineral oil companies to a "considerable extent".

The economist is therefore also skeptical about the "tank discount" planned by Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP).

The oil companies would also benefit from this again to a considerable extent, because they could book at least part of the discount for themselves through price increases, says Schnitzer: "That would earn them twice as much." The corresponding mechanisms are in the reduction and re-increase in VAT in the pandemic could be observed, says the economist, who had dealt with exactly these effects at the time.

At that time, the companies would have passed on the reduction in VAT,

but reaped part of the advantage through price increases.

She believes that it is now the task of the Federal Cartel Office to investigate whether the most recent price increases at gas stations were all right in terms of competition law.

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Oil states get more for their crude oil

In any case, it is not the small gas station tenants who are now earning so much more, as most petrol experts agree.

The research institute RWI in Essen also once compared the prices for diesel and petrol without tax with those for crude oil - and thinks that the gaps have been significantly higher than now.

"Sooner or later it will be the crude oil producers who will benefit from the high crude oil prices," says RWI energy expert Manuel Frondel.

The most important oil exporters included Saudi Arabia with 8 million barrels, Iraq with 3.8 million barrels, the United Arab Emirates with 3.3 million barrels, Canada with 3 million barrels and Kuwait with 2.4 million barrels per day.

"Normally, Russia would also benefit," says Frank Schallenberger, oil expert at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg.

Higher income initially also for the German state

The state also initially benefited from the high price of petrol, says Schallenberger.

After all, the VAT on petrol rises extremely with the higher product price.

But that could be "a double-edged sword" - if higher spending on gasoline slowed consumption elsewhere.

And then there will lead to lower VAT revenues.