Luxembourg, 8 October 2024
Since 2020, fuel and lubricant prices for personal transport in the EU have shown significant volatility: Annual inflation rates were negative in May 2020 (-19.5%) but started to increase steeply in 2021, reaching +33.4% in November that year. The peak arrived in June 2022 (+39.2%) and after that, it started to slow down, turning negative in 2023. These variations reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In June 2023, the inflation rate for fuel and lubricants was at a low of -15.7%, but volatility has become less pronounced in recent months with smaller monthly price variations. This has been the case in 2024. In August 2024, prices of fuel and lubricant were 6.1% lower than in August 2023 (Source dataset: prc_hicp_manr).
Looking specifically at diesel and petrol since 2020, data shows that prices last August were 7.4% and 5.5% lower than in the same month last year, respectively. Since 2020, the highest increase in prices were observed in June 2022, +45.2% for diesel and +35.7% for petrol. While the price increases of diesel were generally lower than those of petrol, diesel prices went up faster than petrol prices from September 2021 to March 2023. From this month onwards, diesel prices increases remained below those of petrol, however the situation reversed again in June, July and August this year.
Most EU countries report negative inflation rates for fuels and lubricants
In August 2024, 24 EU countries reported negative annual rates of change or lower prices than the same month last year. Sweden (-20.7%) reported the highest drop, followed by Belgium (-8.9%) and Slovakia (-8.4%). Meanwhile, Slovenia (-2.0%) and Poland (-1.7%) registered the smallest decreases. Prices in Malta remained without change, and Romania (+2.4%) and Ireland (+4.0%) experienced an increase in the annual rate of change.
Source dataset: prc_hicp_manr
More information
- Thematic section on harmonised indices of consumer prices (HICP)
- Database on harmonised indices of consumer prices (HICP)
Methodological notes
- This information was obtained from the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP), which is mainly used to measure inflation.
- Prices in Malta have been regulated since 2020.
- The ECOICOP code used for this article is:
CP0722- fuels and lubricants for personal transport equipment
Source – Eurostat
Eurostat: Energy consumption in transport at pre-pandemic levels
In the EU, in 2022, transport activities accounted for 31% of the final energy consumption, which made it the highest consumer of final energy, ahead of households (27%) and industry (25%).
Road transport was the largest energy consumer, responsible 74% of all energy consumption in transport, or 10 996 petajoules (PJ). Water transport accounted for 13% of all energy consumed in transport (1 935 PJ), followed by air (11%; 1 700 PJ) and rail transport (1%; 214 PJ).
Compared with 2021, air transport recorded the highest increase in energy consumption, with a striking 57% rise. In 2022, energy consumption levels in air transport were approaching the pre-pandemic figures, following sharp declines in 2020 and 2021 (Source dataset: nrg_bal_c )
Gas and diesel oil and motor gasoline remained the leading energy sources in road transport
In 2022, gas/diesel oil (excluding the biofuel portion) was the main source of energy in road transport in the EU, with a 65% share. Motor gasoline (excluding the biofuel portion) followed at 25%, ahead of renewables and biofuels (6%), liquefied petroleum gases (2%), natural gas (1%) and electricity (0.3%).
In most EU countries, gas/diesel oil was the primary source of energy for road transport, though there were noticeable differences between the countries. The highest shares were reported in Latvia (80%) and Lithuania (76%), followed by Ireland, Austria, and Spain, each at 74%. In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Sweden (45%), Cyprus (46%) and the Netherlands (48%).
The share of motor gasoline was highest in Cyprus (50%), the Netherlands (42%), and Malta (36%). The lowest shares were reported in Lithuania (13%), Latvia (14%) and Bulgaria (15%) (Source dataset: nrg_d_traq ).
More information
- Statistics Explained article on final energy consumption in transport
- Thematic section on energy statistics
- Database on energy statistics
- Webinar on energy statistics
- Shedding light on energy in Europe – 2024 edition
Methodological notes
- ‘Transport’ covers the energy used in all transport activities irrespective of economic sector in which the activity occurs (as defined by statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE)). It includes energy used for transport by households and by business activities, including in the industry and services sectors.
- Data on disaggregated final energy consumption in transport for 2022 are available for all EU countries, except Finland, and partially for Greece, Spain and Romania. Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2199 of 17 October 2023 granted derogations for the entire collection to Spain, Romania and Finland for reference years 2022 and 2023. Under these granted derogations, Spain and Romania were still able to send data points. The Implemented Regulation also granted partial derogations to Greece for several families of fuels for reference years 2022, 2023 and 2024.
- For the full list of energy products, please refer to Annex A to Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics. In this Annex and in energy statistics, ‘gas/diesel oil’ includes on-road diesel oil for diesel compression ignition engines of cars and trucks. In the context of this news item, Eurostat expects a majority of ‘gas/diesel oil’ to be taken by on-road diesel oil.
Source – Eurostat