NAPLES, Italy — The price of gasoline coupons in Italy will jump 19 cents a gallon in August — more than double the increase announced last week by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service for Department of Defense personnel living elsewhere in Europe.
The retail price for a 100-liter gasoline booklet will go from $79 to $84, and a 200-liter booklet will increase from $158 to $168, according to a news release from the Tax-Free Gas Coupon Program office. The per-liter booklet prices translate to $3.18 per gallon. July’s price is $2.99.
The retail price for a 100-liter diesel booklet will go from $85 to $87 and a 200-liter booklet will increase from $170 to $174, a jump to $3.30 a gallon from $3.22.
“They’re going up again?” asked Petty Officer 2nd Class Brent Stokes, a flight line director at Naval Support Activity Naples. “It seems like every time you turn around the gas prices are going up.”
Stokes, 25, said he’ll likely curtail his summer vacation travel plans and stay around Naples instead of going to Germany.
AAFES, which provides fuel services to U.S. personnel stationed in other European countries, Thursday announced a rise of about 7 cents per gallon over July prices, citing in a news release the increasing violence in the Middle East, which boosted the price of crude oil.
“I’m not big on the idea of paying more for a service that has not changed, but on the other hand I think it will help people be a little more conscious about their vehicle purchases,” said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua Morgan, 28, also stationed in Naples.
“Gasoline is not a renewable resource, yet people treat it like one.”
The Naples office of tax-free products sets fuel prices for all U.S. military and NATO personnel serving in Italy. The office sets each month’s price of fuel coupons by calculating changes in the price of fuel, changes in the euro-conversion rate to the dollar, and any profits or losses the Navy Exchange incurred the month before, officials have said. While the euro-dollar rate remained mostly unchanged over the past month, the price of crude oil hit a record of $77 a barrel in July.
There are no gas stations on the military bases in Italy, so patrons must redeem the coupons at any Agip or Esso station off base. Personnel in Italy have access only to unleaded gasoline. Use of super unleaded stopped several years ago.
The coupon prices are far better than what Italians are paying at the pump — roughly 1.45 euros per liter, which equates to $5.49 a gallon. Prices can vary depending on the gas station.
AAFES’s August price for regular unleaded gas in Germany was set at $3.119. The exchange service does not sell coupons for regular gas in the Netherlands, U.K., the Azores or Turkey. The cost of a gallon of super unleaded in those countries is $3.27, $3.17, $3.27 and $3.29, respectively
