Cheapest diesel rate confirmed

By Kurt Sansone

Maltese diesel car owners are better off than their counterparts in the 15 European Union member states with the price of diesel being nine euro cents less than the cheapest European price despite an increase of 1c5 in November last year.

A comparative list of average diesel and unleaded petrol prices for March 2002 compiled by the International Automobile Association shows that the UK has the most expensive diesel rate at EUR 1.24 per litre.

Malta, with diesel costing EUR 0.54 per litre (21c5), has the cheapest price. This confirms a similar comparison conducted by this newspaper last year, which revealed that Malta has the cheapest diesel rate in Europe.

The next cheapest EU country is Luxembourg where diesel costs EUR 0.63 per litre followed by Portugal and Greece at EUR 0.65 per litre.

Non-EU members Norway and Switzerland rank second and third most expensive after the UK with diesel prices at EUR 1.13 and EUR 0.96 respectively. In neighbouring Italy diesel costs EUR 0.86 per litre.

The comparison for unleaded petrol also puts Malta on the lower rungs of the ladder, with the latest April price revision bringing the local price on a par with that in Austria and Portugal. With unleaded petrol now costing EUR 0.86 per litre (35c), Malta is cheaper than most other EU member states. Only Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg and Greece get their unleaded petrol at a cheaper price.

In Greece unleaded petrol costs EUR 0.71 per litre, making it the cheapest European country for motorists. The UK has the highest unleaded petrol rate among the EU-15 at EUR 1.20 per litre with non-EU member Norway topping the list at EUR 1.23 per litre.

In general the United States has cheaper fuel prices than the European continent with diesel standing at EUR 0.41 per litre and unleaded petrol at EUR 0.40 per litre.

Leaded petrol has been phased out in the EU-15 and Malta is expected to follow suit by the end of the year when Enemalta will stop importing the fuel.

Malta only liberalised its fuel prices in November last year with revisions occurring every quarter and based on a three-month average. In April the price of diesel remained unchanged while unleaded and leaded petrol were reduced by 1c.

The next price revision is due in the beginning of July.