Fuel sales fall in Portugal

Petrol sales also declined by 0.59%, reversing the trend of growth seen in the months prior, as per data released by the National Entity for the Energy Sector (ENSE).

The data points to the effect of a very significant increase in diesel prices (diesel being the fuel most impacted by the geopolitical crisis resulting from the US attacks on Iran in March 2026) as well as a structural change in the national vehicle fleet, with a very clear trend of the purchase of diesel vehicles being replaced by the purchase of gasoline hybrid vehicles.

Month-on-month total fuel demand at service stations was down 4.23% in July, though that masks the very different trends for the two fuels: diesel down 7.99%, petrol up 4%. ENSE data (which is restricted to the service station retail network and is therefore different from the DG Energy and Geology figures on total road fuel demand) for the year to date shows that total sales volume has remained pretty much flat, up 0.18%.

That's due to the very different performance of the two fuels over the year: petrol up over 6%, diesel down 2.37%.