The Energy department suspects that Portugal’s filling stations are ripping-off drivers and has ordered an investigation into the steep rise in profit margins.
The Secretary of State for Energy has asked the Competition Authority for a new study on the fuel market.
There are suspicions of over gross margins for petrol and diesel that seem to have risen steeply over the past few years.
The Secretary of State for Energy, Jorge Seguro Sanches, wants to look at how retail fuel prices are arrived at by the oil companies.
A letter sent to the Competition Authority asks for a new study independently to determine whether or not there has been a significant change in the way fuel retail prices have been set as margins seem to have risen.
Seguro Sanches said that since the last study, the government has looked at the data and has concluded that gross margins in the oil sector have been increasing way over the historical average.
The secretary of state points out the variations: in 2012 the gross margin for gasoline was 17% of the retail price, last year this margin shot up to 28%. In the case of diesel, in 2012 the gross margin was 18% and in 2016 it hit 24%.
The increase in the profit margin can be partly explained by the fact that fuel prices have declined in recent years but the government suspects that the oil companies have been taking advantage of motorists and wants details before acting.
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