Fuel prices have skyrocketed in France in recent weeks. In Spain, they remain stable, well below 1.50 euros.
After a year 2023 marked by high prices at the pump, the year 2024 saw a general decline in petroleum products.
A significant decline which reached its lowest level in September 2024. As shown in the interactive graph from L'Indépendant, below. Since then, the prices of unleaded but also of diesel have risen regularly, in fits and starts, until a sudden increase in recent weeks.
Thus, this Friday, January 17, on average, the price of unleaded was 1.8149 euros and that of diesel was 1.7233 euros. That is to say a very clear increase, in one month, of + 3.3% for unleaded and + 5% for diesel during the same period.
Guest this Tuesday evening on BFM TV, Patrice Geoffron, professor of economics at Paris-Dauphine, saw, in this increase in prices, the consequence of several factors. “The parity of the dollars and the euro is no longer a reality and with one euro, we buy less crude oil than before. In addition, it is very cold in part of Europe at the moment, this which contributes to increasing demand for fuel oil and, in fact, drives up prices Finally, the oil market remains unstable since the start of the war in Ukraine and the rise in tensions risks keeping these prices rising. “.
-The still significant gap with Spain
Although the short-term trend remains difficult to predict, the fact remains that prices should remain at these high levels for a few weeks.
Locally, gasoline is also increasing, that's obvious, but it remains less expensive than last year at the same time. The cheapest diesel in the Pyrénées-Orientales was displayed this Tuesday at 1.653 euros per liter at the Intermarché in Port-Vendres and at 1.679 euros per liter at the Super U Prades.
However, this is still 30 cents more than in Spain where the cheapest diesel, in the province of Girona, is available at Petrofigueres de Figuères (1.349 euros per liter)
As for unleaded, the cheapest in the Pyrénées-Orientales is at the Super U in Prades (1.739 euros per liter). Here again, the gap widens a little further with the Catalan neighbors since the cheapest unleaded is found at the Bon Area station in Arbucies (1.402 euros per liter). On the other side of the border, whatever the type of energy, the price remains well below the symbolic bar of 1.50 euros per liter.
