Fuels, the price race continues. Today the table with the guarantor

The run-up in fuel prices at the pump continues, with new rises. According to data from Mimit (monitored daily on Lab24), the average price of petrol on the Italian road network yesterday reached 1.724 euro per litre (it was 1.693 the previous day, 1.672 on Monday), on motorways 1.836 (it was 1.816 the previous day and 1.778 on Monday). For diesel, the price rises are even more pronounced: it costs 1.818 euros per litre on the roads (it was 1.754 the previous day and 1.727 on Monday), and on motorways 1.948 (it was 1.903 the previous day and 1.727 on Monday). It is at the highest since March 2024. According to the latest Staffetta Quotidiana survey, Q8 increased its recommended petrol prices by 2 cents and diesel prices by 7, Tamoil by 3 cents for green and diesel by 10.

To explain the rush, triggered by the attack on Iran, there has been no lack of rumours of speculation in recent days. Codacons has denounced peaks of 2.5 euro per litre for diesel fuel on the motorway, and recalls how it is possible to resort to mobile excise duties to mitigate prices, the consumers' association Adoc has spoken of 'speculation' on the part of the oil companies, in the wake of the accusation that petrol stations - with the category organisations Faib, Fegica and Figisc - had made on Tuesday. Assotir has sent a report to the Minister of Transport, Matteo Salvini, asking for measures to contain the shock, 'starting with the speculative phenomena that are being reported from various parts of Italia', and for maximum transparency on the increases, which according to the association touch 30 cents. Assoutenti has announced a complaint to the Antitrust Authority on the basis of an anomalous price trend both in terms of the speed of the increases and their magnitude, 'especially if we consider that the raw material oil has been purchased by companies in recent months at prices much lower than today's,' said president Gabriele Melluso. Concern over alleged speculation also came from associations such as Coldiretti, Confcooperative Fedagripesca, and Cna.

The Minister of Enterprise, Adolfo Urso, convened for the morning of 6 March two meetings of the Rapid Price Alert Commission, chaired by the Guarantor (Mister Prezzi), Benedetto Mineo. The first on energy market trends, with a focus on oil products (for gas and electricity yesterday Arera set up the Energy Surveillance Unit), the second on possible inflationary effects. Since the beginning of the week, on Urso's instructions, the monitoring of fuels had already been stepped up, and the first results were forwarded to the Guardia di Finanza. Mister Prezzi has also already asked the main oil companies for clarifications on recent price changes, in particular on the rapid rise in price lists.

These elements will be discussed in depth at meetings attended by trade associations, including Unem, which represents the oil companies, and which first of all emphasises how, in order to understand price lists, taking crude oil as a reference is not always correct because petrol and diesel are but a fraction of it and their international valuations are taken from Platts (Cif Med), which reflects the state of the real physical market of supply and demand.

"Brent is currently around $83 per barrel, roughly the same as in the first week of March 2024. In the same period, however, Platts quotations for diesel were about 180 dollars per tonne (about 10 euro cents per litre) lower than today, while that of petrol was 55 dollars per tonne (about 7 cents) higher,' Unem explain, adding that historically the trend of Platts quotations and the Italia industrial price (without taxes) of the relevant product is very similar, net of sudden and wide variations such as the current ones. They point out from the association that 'since Friday, Platts quotations for diesel fuel as a whole have gained about 18 cents per litre while the pump price on national average has risen by just under 10 cents. On the other hand, petrol has gained about 7 euro cents per litre, compared to about 5.5 euro cents at the consumer price'.