Catalan petrol station is Spain’s cheapest, says consumer rights organization

Planning a road trip over the summer holidays is becoming more and more complicated with fuel prices on the rise. But Catalan residents are lucky: Spain’s cheapest petrol station is located in inland Catalonia. 

Catalan company BonÀrea has Spain’s lowest diesel and fuel prices according to a new study by the largest Spanish consumers organization, OCU. Catalonia, however, is also home to the most expensive petrol station company, Petrocat. 

BonÀrea, based in the inland town of Guissona - which is known as Catalonia’s little Ukraine due to its thriving Ukrainian community - is a company that runs a chain of supermarkets as well as several petrol stations and a few other businesses. 

OCU checked the prices of over 10,000 petrol stations in Spain between February and May 2022 and calculated the average cost of diesel and fuel. 

#Coches ¿Cuáles son las gasolineras más caras con un sobrecoste de hasta un 8%? ¿Y las provincias con mejores precios?
🚗Comparamos los precios de 10.000 gasolineras: consulta los resultados y ahorra hasta un 10% al repostar ⬇️https://t.co/3gZ1T2ifQf pic.twitter.com/vIxss4aMqV

— OCU (@consumidores) June 29, 2022

BonÀrea is ranked at 100 for fuel and for diesel, the lowest price, while each petrol station is rated based on the first one. 

Petrocat, another Catalan company, is ranked among the most expensive petrol stations with 110 points for diesel and 112 for fuel, meaning it is 10% and 12% more expensive than BonÀrea. 

Filling the tank with fuel at a Petrocat station would cost around 20 cents per liter more, according to OCU.

Other expensive options include Repsol, BP, Petronor and Valcarce, all around 8% more expensive than the cheapest petrol stations, at around 18 cents more per liter. 

In Catalonia, aside from BonÀrea, there are several cheaper options available such as GM OIL, Campsa Express, Petroprix, Alcampo, and Esclatoil, among others.

Lleida province, the cheapest place

The OCU survey also pointed out the cheapest places to buy petrol. In the Balearic Islands, the northern region of Asturias, the Galician area of Ourense, and the Gipuzkoa province in the Basque Country fewer than 10% of petrol stations offer prices 5 cents lower than the Spanish average. 

Meanwhile, in Catalonia’s inland province of Lleida and the Teruel province in the neighboring region of Aragon, consumers can buy the cheapest petrol.