You can find the original article here: Gas station association accuses mineral oil companies of cashing in on gasoline and diesel
The Tankstellen-Interessenverband (TIV) has accused petroleum companies of exploiting the current situation to drive up profits. “The mineral oil companies are cashing in on a climate in the market that allows for a relatively high gasoline price,” a spokesman for the association told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” on Friday. The Petroleum Association Fuels and Energy rejected the criticism, but the Federal Cartel Office sees open questions in the pricing.
The fuel discount of 35 cents for gasoline and 17 cents for diesel decided by the federal government had largely been “capitalized” in advance via price increases, the TIV spokesman explained. And now it will be increased further: Soon, the average price for a liter of Super will be above two euros again “and in August we will end up at 2.10 or 2.20 euros.”
With the end of the fuel discount in three months, “the rude awakening” will follow, the TIV spokesman continued. “Then, according to our estimates, we will be faced with prices between 2.30 and 2.60 euros.” The TIV represents about 1000 gas station tenants nationwide.
Fuels and Energy spokesman Alexander von Gersdorff, on the other hand, told Bayerischer Rundfunk that the fuel discount would be “fully passed on to the fuel customers.” “We can assure that,” he emphasized. Gersdorff expressly welcomed the reviews by the Federal Cartel Office in this regard. The petroleum industry is “glad when the Cartel Office takes a closer look, because it is an unpleasant state of affairs when you are constantly pilloried for supposedly too high prices, while in reality the tank discount is passed on.”
The current high prices are mainly due to higher product costs for gasoline and diesel on the world market, the association spokesman continued. Gersdorff called it “annoying” and “frustrating” that prices have nevertheless risen again since the rebate came into effect on June 1.
He was skeptical about considerations for an excess profits tax to skim off crisis profits of the petroleum industry. “For that to happen, there would first have to be a so-called excess profit,” Gersdorff said. However, the billions in profits tended to accrue in the international oil production business, not in the domestic tank and refinery business.
The Federal Cartel Office said that after the fuel discount came into effect, the price of gasoline initially fell by an average of 27 cents per liter and that of diesel by eleven cents per liter. Since then, however, prices have risen again by six to eight cents in each case. The average price for E5 gasoline for Thursday was reported at 2.00 euros, for E10 gasoline at 1.94 euros and for diesel at 2.01 euros. Delays in passing on the discount had occurred mainly in southern Germany, he said.
“We are doing our utmost to clarify and bring transparency to the pricing of the mineral oil companies,” explained Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt. However, neither the Bundeskartellamt nor any other authority in Germany could “lower prices at the push of a button.” However, indications of possible illegal behavior are consistently followed up.
In general, the gap between the price of crude oil and refinery and gas station prices has grown since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Previously, he said, this gap had never exceeded 40 cents, but since then it had initially been 40 to 50 cents and since May 27 even around 60 cents. “Of course, this raises questions,” Mundt explained. Especially with the refinery level, his authority will therefore look more closely, which will take some time, however.
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