Most Europeans now pay more for diesel than gasoline at the pump

The consequences of avoiding Russian diesel exports are plainly visible to motorists in western Europe already.

A surge in demand for alternative supplies since Russia invaded Ukraine has pushed up wholesale and retail prices of the motor fuel to an extent where it now costs more than gasoline across most of Europe.

Diesel fetched 2.312 euros a liter ($9.64 a gallon), including taxes, at the pump in Germany on March 14, which was 5.3 euro cents more than Euro super-95 gasoline. That’s the first time in at least 15 years’ worth of data collected by the European Commission that diesel cost more.

French car owners paid a similar premium to fill up with diesel, a phenomenon that’s only happened once before in the past decade: in late 2018.

The majority of the European Union is in the same boat, with diesel costing more than gasoline in 17 of the bloc’s 27 countries. Two weeks earlier, on Feb. 28, diesel was priced higher at service stations in only nine countries.

Among all the countries, Sweden, Belgium and Poland pay the highest premiums for diesel, when converted into euros, while the fuel remains stubbornly cheap relative to gasoline in Denmark and the Netherlands.