The price of Brent crude oil, which also shapes fuel prices at Estonian gas stations, has risen again over the past couple of days to more than $114 per barrel. A diesel-powered taxi driver said the situation is bleak, adding that there are also fewer customers compared with February.

"As a service, it doesn't affect things — my own income just goes down. Where can we even cut costs except at our own expense? The difference for a full tank is about €40. I don't even feel like crying about it anymore," said taxi driver Veiko.

Bolt said pricing is also influenced by demand, the competitive landscape and customers' price sensitivity and that moderate pricing adjustments have already been made in different cities.

"Honestly, it doesn't affect me that much because my car runs on CNG. It's about 10 cents more expensive, but not nearly as bad as gasoline or diesel," said taxi driver Tanel.

Since rising fuel costs in transport inevitably have to be passed on in freight service prices, rates have increased immediately by 10 to 15 percent, depending on the type of transport. Some fixed-price contracts have been temporarily suspended.

"We drive about 15 million kilometers a year across Europe, in Estonia, everywhere. One-third of that is fuel — the average cost per kilometer is around one euro — and that one-third has now risen by 45 percent," said Urmas Uudemets, head of logistics company Via 3L.

Long-distance coach operator Lux Express plans to wait until mid-April before raising ticket prices.

"Given our volumes, Lux Express's costs have increased by roughly €6,000 per day due to the rise in fuel prices. The price shock in 2022, when fuel prices also exceeded €2, showed that we gained about 7 percent more passengers from that shock and we hope for the same now. As a public transport company, we don't want to greet our passengers with another price shock," said Lux Express CEO Ingmar Roos.

It is currently difficult to predict how long the fuel crisis will last, but a prolonged period of high prices will begin to affect competitiveness.

"If we compare the energy prices paid by Estonian manufacturing companies with those in other countries, earlier comparisons from a few years ago showed that the share of energy costs in our manufacturing sector was higher than the European Union average and also higher than in Finland and Sweden. So if energy prices rise, this could weaken competitiveness. At the same time, it should be noted that energy prices are rising in other countries as well," said Tõnu Mertsina, chief economist at Swedbank.

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