What a litre cost in Ireland, 2009Carbon tax arrives as prices slump.

A motorist buying petrol every Monday of 2009 would have paid €1.106 a litre on average, and a diesel driver €1.022. Opening and closing readings for petrol differ by 14.3 cent, the later one higher. Compared with the year before, the averages shifted −13.1 cent on petrol and −26.6 cent on diesel.

Diesel touched €1.090 on 21 Dec and fell as low as €0.951 on 27 Apr, while petrol stayed between €0.979 and €1.190. Set side by side, the yearly averages show diesel at 8.4 cent a litre cheaper than petrol. The fiscal part of the average petrol litre in 2009 was 65.9%, worth about 72.9 cent. On the marked gas oil side, the average was €0.656 and the range €0.573 to €0.726.

Between the cheapest month, February at €0.984, and the dearest, October at €1.184, petrol's monthly averages spread by 20.0 cent.

Of the weekly moves in petrol, 9 were rises, 4 were falls and 37 left the price unchanged.

Against an EU petrol average of €1.155 for 2009, the Irish figure was 5.0 cent lower.

On the duty side, 2009 brought twice: a new schedule on 8 Apr set petrol at €508.79 and diesel at €409.20 per 1,000 litres; from 10 Dec, €543.17 on petrol and €449.18 on diesel per 1,000 litres.

Two duty changes mark 2009: diesel rose to 409.20 euro per 1,000 litres on 8 April, and on 10 December the carbon tax arrived at €15 a tonne, which Revenue set at 34.38 euro per 1,000 litres of petrol.

To follow the thread, go to fuel prices in 2010 or back to 2008 at the pumps.

Back to the index of years: petrol and diesel prices over the years.