Dispute over tank discount – oil companies declare themselves: “We understand the trouble”
Created: 06/13/2022, 15:22
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
The tank discount does not go down well with consumers.
Many politicians and experts blame the oil companies for this.
Association managing director Christian Küchen comments on the allegations.
Berlin – Shortly after the introduction of the tank discount, the debate about its benefits boiled up again.
The reduction in the energy tax on petrol and diesel is hardly noticeable to drivers at the pumps.
Last week, for the first time since the start of the tank discount, diesel cost more than two euros on a daily average nationwide.
Tank discount: the cartel office should keep an eye on oil companies
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) confirmed that the reduction in mineral oil tax decided by the government would only be partially passed on by the companies in the form of price reductions, currently about half.
However, this had also been the case before with similar tax cuts.
"That's why it was never our wish, our idea to do this tax cut," said the Green politician.
"If a not-so-good idea goes badly, then of course you still have to help," the minister said.
To this end, the antitrust reform already provided for in the coalition agreement should be brought forward to this year.
The tank discount does not go down well with consumers.
Many politicians and experts hold the mineral oil companies responsible for this.
© Wolfgang Maria Weber/Imago
Habeck explained that the cartel office should be given more rights for more detailed examinations.
Above all, it should be sufficient in the future if there is “an effect like a cartel” in pricing, without unauthorized price fixing having to be proven.
The head of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Marcel Fratzscher, praised the planned antitrust reform as an "important initiative".
Similar to the Economics Minister, he criticized the fuel discount enforced by the FDP in the
Augsburger Allgemeine
as a "mistake with announcement".
The economist Jens Südekum spoke in the Bild
newspaper
of a "crazy idea" that "ultimately the taxpayers have to pay for" .
Association of the Mineral Oil Industry: "The tank discount works"
But what do the accused say about the debate about the tank discount?
Christian Küchen, General Manager of en2x, the Fuels and Energy Business Association and successor to the Mineral Oil Industry Association, defends the oil companies in an interview with the
Handelsblatt
newspaper: "The tank discount is working." He explains: "If we no longer had the reduced energy tax, they would be Prices are exactly this amount more expensive, i.e. 35 cents for petrol and 17 cents for diesel.
The reduction comes at the right time, it is needed now more than ever.”
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In the magazine, Küchen also explains why, in his opinion, fuel prices are not made cheaper by the tank discount: "A misunderstanding about the development of gas station prices is currently dominating the discussion: The procurement costs for gas stations are primarily determined by the world market prices for gasoline and diesel fuel and not initially from crude oil prices.
These are separate markets.”
The world market prices for petrol and diesel have risen continuously in recent months.
And the prices at the German gas stations would have developed like the world market prices.
"If we look at the price difference between the German petrol station prices and the world market price for diesel and petrol, then the curves are almost parallel," says Küchen in the
Handelsblatt
.
Küchen himself cannot say why the petrol and diesel prices have decoupled from the crude oil prices and have risen much more sharply.
But: "We are convinced that this is also a consequence of the development of the world market," he tells the magazine.
"In this respect, we are even glad that the cartel office is now investigating to get to the bottom of the matter.
We understand the anger, but that the prices for crude oil and the finished products develop differently, that's what happened in the past."
(lma/dpa/AFP)
