Petrol prices in Luxembourg have soared over the past month, fuelled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Fuel prices have risen significantly since war broke out in Ukraine on 24 February, rising to record highs on 10 March, when diesel prices equated to €2.112 per litre, while petrol cost €1.89 and €1.963 for 95 and 98 respectively.

Since that day, prices have stabilised and even dropped by around 40 cents in the case of diesel. They currently stand as follows:

  • diesel: €1.626
  • SP-95: €1.665
  • SP-98: 1€.737

Heating oil has also increased in value, rising throughout 2021 until it passed the threshold of 1 euro in early March.

On 17 March, service station and heating oil prices in Luxembourg remain at a high level, exceeding their equivalents prior to the invasion of Ukraine. Several days before Russian troops invaded, diesel stood at €1.50 per litre, compared to €1.557 for SP-95 - a dozen cents less than today's prices. Heating oil is currently €1.03, compared to €0.92 in mid-February.

According to STATEC's economic report for February, which was published prior to the Ukraine invasion, economic demand and random production were already fuelling the rise in prices. The conflict has merely exacerbated the price increase, assisted by the taxes applied to each litre sold. On Thursday, the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, estimated that these soaring prices will leave their mark. "We are increasingly convinced that the dynamics of inflation in the medium term will not return to the pattern we saw before the pandemic", when the indicator remained durably below the 2% objective targeted by the ECB, Lagarde told a conference in Frankfurt.