Fuels, Eni and IP price caps: queues at distributors and depleted stocks

There are several cars lined up at Eni petrol stations in Bologna, where the price cap with which the company has set a ceiling on the price of fuels marketed by Enilive has come into operation: 2.19 euros per liter for diesel and 1.99 euros per liter for petrol. There are just under a dozen cars that have formed columns at the various refueling points in the city to take advantage of the convenient costs.

The price cap decided by the state-owned oil company for all Eni and Enilive distributors applies only to self-service: the measure, related to the tax relief on excise duties in force, is active from today and will currently last 30 days but could be extended until the end of the year.

Eni's "roof" has sparked the supply race in Naples since dawn today. The case of the petrol station in Via Cristoforo Colombo is emblematic, which is located a few steps from the Via Marina intersection, which in approximately 3 and a half hours delivered more than two thousand liters of petrol. "It was a continuous coming and going", explains the manager Maurizio Ferrara, active in the sector for around 40 years, who displayed signs with the words 'sold out' on the petrol dispenser columns. Another refueling is expected soon.

Queues also in the capital: this is the situation at the Eni petrol station in via Prati Fiscali, with several cars waiting to refuel on the first day of the price reduction.

This is the situation in via Tirreno in Turin. However, in a note Assopetroli-Assoenergia spoke of the risk that "a positive measure for consumers, if applied only to a part of the market, ends up creating an unbridgeable competitive imbalance: on the one hand the networks that can apply the regulated price, on the other the independent operators who purchase fuel wholesale at conditions identical to the market".

"While we appreciate the effort, we will not join the chorus of those who praise and thank the 'poor' oil companies who cut their profits after enriching themselves for months on the pockets of motorists." Federconsumatori made this known in a note. "The national Federconsumatori Observatory has in fact calculated that since the beginning of the conflict an average surcharge of +20.48 cents has been applied on petrol and +19.47 cents on diesel".

Prices for petrol are stuck at 1,990 euros per litre, while diesel varies between 2,190 euros per liter for self-service to 2,400 for served. After Eni, the Azerbaijani energy company Socar, present in Italy through its subsidiary Italiana Petroli (IP), has also announced its intention to establish a maximum price cap on petrol and diesel. At the IP petrol station in via Santa Rita da Cascia, in the Barona area, the price per liter of self-service petrol is 1.839, currently the lowest in all of Milan.

The cap on fuel prices at Eni and Enilive service stations has also been introduced in Lombardy. Several motorists waited this morning to refuel, although at the moment there are no particular queues at petrol stations.