Something interesting has happened at petrol stations in Germany in the last few weeks – the price of the “normal” (91 octane) petrol has been brought into line with “super” (95 octane) fuel.

Speculation followed in the German press, that the petrol stations wanted to phase out the lower grade fuel to make space for other products, and so had raised the price to persuade consumers to switch to the next alternative. Indeed, in a number of European countries 91 octane fuel is no longer available.

And whilst some cars being sold in Germany state in their manuals that they should be filling up with the “normal” petrol, others fill up with it just to save money.  But now some petrol stations have stopped selling it altogether.

Of course, it would be nice if they used this extra capacity to sell something new, such as bio-ethanol. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that they will just use it to sell more “super” or even 98/100 octane fuels.  Just imagine what effect it would have if one of the major chains starting selling bio-ethanol nationwide!

There is, however, a glimmer of hope.  I was in Frankfurt last night and spotted a petrol station belonging to one of the major chains selling gas on it’s forecourt (real gas, not just the American English word for “petrol”!)  I that’s at least a step in the right direction.