An official source from the State Department of Energy, quoted in several papers said “there are five operators that did not comply with the additions, which have been asked to pay compensation amounting to €24,394,000 and proceedings are underway with a value very close to that, totalling about €48 million.”
The Portuguese Association of Oil Companies (APETRO) also told the newspapers that “the state may have been defrauded by importers who have not been operating strictly in compliance with the law to the tune of more than €48 million in the last three years (€12 million for tax and €36 million for the non-incorporation of biofuel)”.
Sources contacted by the newspapers said that the five operators are mostly in the so-called ‘low-cost’ market.
APERTO estimates that illegal imports account for 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent of all diesel sold in the country.
According to the newspapers, the cost of incorporating biofuel into diesel fuel can be around 3.2 euro cents per litre, but easily reaches 4 cents with VAT.
“The average price of Spanish diesel before taxes is practically the same as the Portuguese price. The difference arises when taxes are charged.
When diesel reaches Portugal, sometimes it already had some biofuel incorporated, but less than the legally required 7.5 percent.