The Fuel Station Association (TIV) says it expects the oil majors to immediately transfer the recent crude price jump – which has risen by more than $100 a barrel – to motorists. “I fear the oil companies will pass the high price straight onto drivers and will increase petrol prices even further” said TIV spokesperson Herbert Rabl in an interview with the “Rheinische Post” on Tuesday. “It seems likely they will use the German market to test the limit: a price of 2.50 €, or even higher, per litre appears conceivable”.
Rabl warned that the owners of petrol stations are not participating in the hefty profits; they only receive a small commission of a few cents per litre sold, while the price hike erodes consumer confidence and hurts the retail side that makes up roughly 60 % of the stations’ turnover.
He added that, in the past week, no other European country has seen a price rise as steep as Germany’s, and suspected that the oil majors are aware they have no worries from Federal Minister Reiche.
The association has advocated for a regulation similar to Austria’s, proposing that the government could enforce a rule allowing companies to raise prices only once a day, with any further adjustment limited to a decrease. At present, Austria’s petrol price stands at about 1.70 €.
