Filling up this week? Diesel costs a little more, petrol a little less
The forecast for 3–9 August: about two cents a litre on diesel, one cent off petrol 95. On a 50-litre tank that is a euro either way.
Diesel drivers pay slightly more this week. The forecast for 3 to 9 August points to a rise of roughly two cents a litre on standard diesel and a fall of about one cent on petrol 95. On a 50-litre tank that works out at a euro more for some of us and 50 cents less for the rest.
It is not the kind of move that reshapes a household budget. What it does tell you is the direction of travel. Diesel has been drifting upward for several weeks now while petrol moves sideways, and the gap between the two is narrower than it was a year ago.
The fuel tax changed, and you will barely feel it
The government has again adjusted ISP, the tax on petroleum products, as it has done week by week since it started clawing back the extra VAT that higher prices generate. This week the adjustment is so small that the practical effect is close to zero. What shows up on the pump display comes mainly from international refined-product prices, not from the tax.
Worth remembering that these are forecasts. Reference prices are set by fuel retailers on Mondays, and each brand decides how much of the change to pass on and when. The difference between a motorway service station and a low-cost forecourt fifteen kilometres away can easily exceed a whole week’s movement. Actual prices at every station in the country are published on the energy directorate’s official portal, updated daily and searchable by municipality.
What is pushing the price
On the supply side the market is still absorbing Gulf instability and Europe’s summer refinery maintenance, which tends to squeeze diesel availability in August of all months. On the fiscal side the state has already committed to charging oil companies a windfall levy on 2026 profits, a measure that does nothing to the pump price but says plenty about relations between the government and the sector. For the wider picture — gold, the Fed, oil, equities — our running markets file keeps it in one place.
By Beatriz Mota
Illustrative · Photo: Peter Jochim / Pexels
