Farewell to better times: gas stations are under serious pressure

Coronavirus, the conflict in Ukraine and the energy crisis are creating serious problems for gas stations in the Grand Duchy. Due to rising prices, Luxembourg has decided to subsidize petrol, diesel, heating oil and LPG. However, at the same time, larger subsidies were approved by Germany and France, which led to a loss of competitiveness in this sector for the Grand Duchy.

While in Germany the so-called gas station discount has since expired, France has established a discount of 30 cents per liter of petrol or diesel at every gas station since September 1st. In addition, the multinational oil company TotalEnergies is giving its customers a discount of 20 cents per liter of fuel until November 1st. As a result sales rise in France and sharply drop in Luxembourg.

For gas stations near the French border sales have fallen by 35-45% over the past two months. And “unfortunately, this trend still continues,” says Romain Hoffmann, president of Groupement Energies Mobilité Luxembourg.

Although the gas discount in France will be reduced to 10 cents in November and December, and completely eliminated by the end of the year, forecasts for the industry in Luxembourg are not becoming more optimistic. Total volume sold is expected to fall by an average of about 20% this year. This is not a new occurrence. Both from 2019 to 2020 and from 2020 to 2021 diesel fuel sales fell by 21%.

Because of the many problems, the oil dealers association, under the auspices of Fedil, is calling on the government to support the industry. Namely, “thoroughly adjust” the taxation of petroleum products, analyze the impact on fuel sales and give the industry the necessary time to rebalance in line with demand.