Oil price rises: all-time high at the tank

The price of gasoline at German gas stations reached another all-time high over the weekend. The nationwide daily average cost of a liter of Super E10 was 2.273 euros on Sunday, as the ADAC in Munich stated on Monday. The price of diesel also continued to rise; It therefore reached 2.404 euros per liter on Sunday. The price of crude oil rose on the world market: the price for a barrel of North Sea Brent was over $107 on Monday morning.

Since February of this year, oil and gas volumes on the world market have been significantly reduced as a result of the Iran war that was started by the USA and Israel in February. On the one hand, Tehran regularly attacks US bases and energy infrastructure in the US-allied Gulf states. In addition, the Strait of Hormuz, which is important for oil and gas transport, is effectively blocked.

Russia's war against Ukraine is also impacting energy markets. With the Bab al-Mandab Strait in the Red Sea, another important transport route is also under pressure: the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen announced on Friday that it had taken control of the strait. In addition, Saudi Arabia, which supports government troops fighting the Houthis in Yemen, temporarily closed the important east-west pipeline after Houthi drone attacks.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics emphasized that developments in the Middle East had “no impact on the security of supply of crude oil and crude oil products”. Germany therefore purchases neither oil nor liquid natural gas from the region, so bottlenecks are not to be expected - but rising prices are.

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) reiterated her call for a price cap for fuel. The spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics was skeptical: "Deciding on a price cap (...) is not very easy. It requires a lot of prerequisites and does not necessarily have to be positive."

The Federal Cartel Office, as the supervisory authority, declared last week that the market examination was in full swing. It is very time-consuming to actually detect abuse. (afp)