An analysis says Europe is paying an average of 203 million euros a day in additional fuel costs as diesel prices surge due to a Middle East conflict and disruptions to refined fuel supplies. Concerns are also growing that higher costs for passenger car drivers and the freight transport industry could add to inflation pressure.

A report by the European Federation for Transport and Environment (T&E), introduced by CleanTechnica on Sept. 22, said the figure is an estimate of the average daily extra cost from higher diesel prices since the conflict began. Additional fuel costs for road transport including gasoline were tallied at 270 million euros a day.

T&E said Europe is vulnerable to sharp fuel price rises because 38 percent of passenger cars on European Union roads are diesel vehicles. The report estimated that as of Sept. 14 the extra cost to fill 50 litres for a diesel car amounted to 30 euros. Fuel costs for German trucks also rose by an average of 236 euros a week since the conflict began. Higher truck fuel costs could affect the prices of goods through transport costs.

By contrast, higher refined product prices have widened oil companies' profits. T&E estimated that eight major oil companies in the EU earned 7.5 billion euros in excess profits in the first half of this year.

T&E suggested short-term steps such as cutting highway speed limits by 10 km per hour and expanding eco-driving and car-sharing, saying that could reduce diesel demand by about 15 percent. Over the longer term, it called for a shift to electric vehicles and support for scrapping older diesel cars. With 30 percent of Europe's diesel cars more than 15 years old, it calculated that if the additional fuel costs persist until Christmas, the burden would be equivalent to paying a 2,000-euro scrappage subsidy per vehicle for all such cars.

T&E also argued that rather than a blanket cut in fuel taxes, support should be focused on low-income drivers and excess profits at oil companies should be taxed and used as funding for electrification.