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Date Published: 09/03/2022

ARCHIVED - Low cost petrol stations in Murcia swamped as fuel exceeds 2 euros per litre

The price of filling an average tank in the Region of Murcia has soared to 100 euros

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Low cost petrol stations in Murcia swamped as fuel exceeds 2 euros per litre

It seems the only way is up for all manner of consumer products and services in the Region of Murcia, and fuel prices marked an all-time high on Tuesday March 8 as the cost of a litre of petrol soared past the 2-euro mark in no fewer than 20 filling stations. The most expensive service stops are primarily located in the municipality of Murcia, but a few have also tipped the scales in Mazarrón and Lorca.

It’s no secret that the war in Ukraine is mostly to blame for the wallet-busting prices, with Europe’s dependence on Russia for oil greatly inflating costs. And fuel isn’t the only concern; fears of sunflower oil shortages have triggered supermarket rations all across Spain while closer to home, Murcian farmers are demanding action due to the lack of feed for their animals and fertiliser for their crops.

In the Region today, the price of diesel has also crept up in many places to between 1.70 and 1.80 euros per litre, meaning that filling an average tank now costs a staggering 100 euros, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

This represents an increase of around 30% on the same time last year when prices had already begun steadily climbing, now greatly exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The average price at Murcian filling stations is 1.921 euros/litre in relation to petrol 98; petrol 95 in 1.781 euros; while the regional average for diesel is 1.714 euros/litre, and that of diesel plus has climbed to 1.806 euros.

"What has happened in recent days is a scandal," the president of the Association of Service Stations of the Region of Murcia, José Baños, has strongly stated, adding that "the increase is going to generalise, and it is going to rise even more" at the approximately 350 gas stations in the community.

The main fear of service station operators is there could well be a drop in consumption in the coming days and weeks as motorists are simply priced out of the fuel market.

The Spanish Confederation of Service Station Entrepreneurs (Ceees) has estimated that overall sales have already dropped between 15 and 20% in recent days, even as massive queues have been reported at some of the lower cost filling stations.

Similar to the panic buying of sunflower oil recently or the dash to buy toilet paper at the beginning of the pandemic, Ceees has claimed that people are even resorting to filling plastic containers with fuel, such is the worry in the Region about the escalating prices.

Image: Repsol

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