At PetrolPrices.com, we’re keen to keep our members and readers abreast of what’s happening in the world of petrol and diesel. It seems we’ve only just reported on one fuel price story when another rears its head. Last week came with worrying news that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is considering increasing fuel duty and this week we learn that world events may mean yet another rise in the cost of fuel.
Independent advisory body, The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cautioned that the price of oil may be about to climb during the following months due to declining oil production in major oil-producing countries. So, why is the oil industry struggling?
Higher prices may be on the way
After the tenth consecutive week of fuel inflation, drivers are witnessing the most expensive petrol and diesel since 2014, yet things aren’t looking to improve as a series of factors are against us.
When US President Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and imposed heavy sanctions, oil-production slowed and the oil-abundant country of Venezuela is struggling to produce oil as the country continues to spiral into further economic crisis.
Brent crude was as low as $65 a barrel just a month ago but has since seen prices increase to $70-$80 a barrel, yet, according to the IEA, we may witness even higher prices due to decreasing oil-production in Venezuela and Iran—and fighting in Libya is affecting the oil industry, too. This isn’t good news for drivers who, after facing multiple price hikes, are seeing petrol and diesel at their highest prices in four years.
In June, in a drive to reduce prices, the oil cartel Opec agreed to increase production and, although the major oil-producing countries have pumped more crude oil—in August they produced a record 100 million barrels of oil a day—the production problems in Iraq and Venezuela may scupper OPEC’s efforts.
On the brink of record highs
The weakened value of the pound and increasing oil prices have both increased the cost of filling up our tanks. At the time of writing this, PetrolPrices.com data shows the average cost of a litre of petrol as 131.4p while diesel stands at an average 134.3p per litre. The cost of filling up an average 55-litre family car with unleaded or diesel has increased by around £6.00 since April.
Simon Williams, Media Relations Manager of the RAC said “Fuel prices are teetering on the brink. If oil supply gets any tighter, or the pound gets any weaker against the dollar, we could see the price of a litre of fuel climb to very unwelcome heights,” and warned of the potential of getting close to the record highs of 2012. The IEA said if Venezuelan and Iranian exports continue to fall, markets might tighten and oil prices could rise “without offsetting production increases from elsewhere.”
Brent crude — the international measure of oil prices — was today trading at $78 a barrel, yet those at the HSBC Bank who track oil prices said the chance of the price going up to $100 a barrel was, “not out of the question, given the increasing lack of global spare capacity” and UBS bank analysts said this would increase global inflation from 3% to 4%.
Ransom money
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said there’s a chance that the cost of oil will soar even higher over the next months. If this happens, motorists will need to find more money to cover the cost of filling up at the pumps, and the chancellor will be in a very sticky situation as he decides whether the Government should increase fuel duty.
The tax on fuel hasn’t increased since 2011 but the chancellor has been considering raising fuel duty to increase public spending, yet one must ask—since transport costs are the largest part of a family’s budget—will the average motorist have any money left to spend?
For many people, it’s not possible to replace all of their travel with alternative modes of transport, less so if they live in a rural area. This means having no choice but to pay the high petrol and diesel prices and trim their budgets in other areas — or risk job loss, poverty, and social isolation. It’s no wonder many drivers feel somewhat held to ransom.
While we wait to see what will happen at the pumps, drivers can still reduce their motoring costs. Why not download the PetrolPrices.com app for maximum convenience and money-saving on the move.
Are you prepared for a further increase in petrol and diesel prices? Will you have to cut other areas of spending? Are you able to make use of cheaper forms of travel? What do you think is the best way to prevent rising fuel costs? Let us know in the comments.
Why is this even being reported in these terms? The government is the ONLY body that makes significant money out of each litre of petrol sold. The oil companies’ profits are big, but the amount the government screws out of us with every fill-up is absolutely huge, and a total outrage – especially as they don’t even get the money spent on the roads. And yet we all line up meekly to let ourselves be shafted…
Government should cut excessive duty on fuel .
This is the main reason I bought an electric car. saves me £150 a month in fuel, or an extra £110 in tax just to commute to work in order to pay even more tax.
Lucky you! I live in rural Wales where there is only 1 charging point in the whole County, so even if I could afford to buy an electric car, there isn’t the infrastructure to support one
And when enough sheep have bought into electric cars, can you guess which energy rescource will skyrocket in price?
We can’t all buy new cars
Glad you afford an electric car Mark!! Because I can’t & neither can most average drivers.
Motorist are easy targets. With all fuel increases everything goes up except salaries which have to be fought for.
Surely as the price rises the percentage of tax rises so why the need to add further increases, unless it’s pure greed on the government’s part, who are thieves and crooks anyway. No government is benevolent to its people, we are there to be robbed by them.
As surely as we vote them into power…………………
…but who do we vote for? Clowns to the left and Jokers to the right! All political parties are out for themselves…
We can’t all live in towns where there is a bus service. We live in a village and there is no transport. My partner drives half hour each way to work, uses quarter tank a week. About £20-23 a week. Has our wages gone up at all- no. Everything is going up but the wages stay basically the same, so we have less money. The living wage is a joke, I wouldn’t be able to survive on that and travel to work as well. Other countries are cheaper on fuel but obviously our Government wants more. Truck drivers from abroad have bigger tanks, fill up their country and do not need to refuel here, but use our roads. If fuel went up drastically we could be paying about £40 or more a week just for 5hours journey a week just for work.
Yeah, what we need is for all foreign vehicles to pay a road toll.
But hang on a minute………………won’t the cost of imported goods just be increased to pay for this toll? Of course it will!
Sadly, British motorists are all being held to ransom by forces that we cannot stop.
The HGV levy has been payable by all HGV’s over 12 tonnes entering the UK since 1st April 2014. Current rates for a typical 5 axle 40 tonne artic are Daily: £10 Weekly: £50 Monthly: £100 Annual: £1,000
Oh and there is no gas in the village, so we use oil for our heating and hot water. Done again.
I took over what was my parent’s house in 1997. At that time I was paying typically 11p a litre for heating oil, today it’s about 5 times that price. Has my income increased 5 times? I wish.
The motorist is a cash cow for the Government, whether you are buying a new car or paying to fuel it. There’s going to be the usual white noise and furore when the budget plans are announced. Then we’ll carry on as usual since many, many families and car users have no alternative but to use their cars.
Public transport is on disarray, alternative fuels are not in the mainstream
Actually the French are being ripped off even more than we are. I’ve just arrived back in England from France, where petrol is as high as €1.80, and diesel is a staggering €1.65 in some places.
If certain globalists who want to control everything didn’t shaft the middle east with rotten foreign policy and then feel the need to invade Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan and feel the need to get rid of Chavez we wouldn’t have this problem.
Similarly, a growing economy (which all economies need) is something we have been told for decades is what we need, in turn needs a growing population to grow. See a pattern and how it relates to consumption?
If crossover cars rather than more fuel efficient saloons or estates weren’t so popular these days there would be less demand.
Over 60% of fuel costs are plundered by the government who maintain the lie of imaginary debt to keep us relatively poor so power and control are held by only a few to keep us subservient.
Now, who wants to discuss the real problems much less do something about it?
There are enough new cars being driven around, okay they might well be leased, but the government sees this and realizes that drivers must be better off. The problem in this country is that there are too many ‘ number plate snobs,’ it seems to me that a lot of people put too much store by what car they drive, it’s how they like to be perceived.
What car do I drive? A 1992 Volvo Estate that I have owned for nineteen years, 275,000 miles on the clock. Buying and exchanging cars continually is a trap for the mugs who think they must impress others. No, I am not envious, I would rather spend my money on something worthwhile; a new Harley-Davidson. It’s just a matter of priorities. Just enjoy your cars and just pay the price, there’s not much else you can do.
My wife spent 40 years of her life in Venezuela and is in regular contact people there.
The country is falling apart and it will take years to put it right. Around two million people have already left and that includes educated people who will not return.
Money is not available for spare parts.
We have seen Libya is in much the same situation.
So with the Pound low against the US Dollar, we need to open up new oil fields (if that is possible) and produce all the oil that we can.
No drop in fuel prices in the near future is my feeling.
Thankfully I own a Nissan Leaf best car I’ve ever owned quiet,smooth and a joy to drive, pennies per miles to be precise £0.02p.
The average petrol tank is 55lt previously mentioned at £1.32/lt to fill = £72.60 divided by £0.02p = 3630 miles that’s how far I can go on the cost of ONE tank of petrol.
2019 will see orders for the new EVs take off the answer is above, you want to save money then go electric
Yes Chris, but we need a wheelchair accessible vehicle, and there ain’t no such thing. Just one of the many ways in which people with disabilities are multiply penalised and financially exploited.
Not true, check the Nissan e-NV200, depending on the amount of miles you drive you have a choice of 2 battery sizes 24 and 40kWh so your are not penalised, 1st advantage you get a goverment grant for the installation of a charger 3.3kW the vehicle comes with a 3pin charger, if you go to a 6.6 charger you pay approx £125. Go to PodPoint.
2nd advantage there is a government incentive of £4,500.00 .
3 advantage free servicing for 3 years
4 advantage very little servicing required
5 advantage cheap to run Check out the E7 electric tariff
as chris says, try the env200. I’m sure this would be adaptable. I’m a leaf driver too
But how many times would you have to recharge….. and when you battery / charging system gives up, I hope you have the four figure sum to replace it.
And if you dont, you have to replace the whole car…. did you factor that into your calculations?
And didnt Nissan get a fine for lying about the range / capability of their “wonderful” leaf? Rhetorical question that!
I’m on record for stating that Nissan tell porkies about the distance the Leaf could travel on one charge however they are also telling porkies about ICE vehicle and what they are capable of travelling all manufactures do it they base them on an standard not a real world figures but you know that, go try one of the new cars coming out in 2019 Leaf,Kona,Niro you will change your tune but I suppose your a petrol head with a trickster name TBH never had an issue were I haven’t been able to charge, 99% of my charging is done at night at home.
Well good for you, but not everyone can access a charge point at home, some people have to park on the street, not anywhere near their own property
Very good but are we all going to queue up for hours to charge them up, oh and what about people who cannot park right outside their home
Love to go electric, but as a low wage earner it’ll never happen. Last car I bought cost £6k cash and it’s 12 years old.
Tell me how?
Can’t get credit and don’t want credit.
I too would love an electric car but now a pensioner I have no chance of ever owning one. My car has to be parked on the road as do many other people’s I can see it from where I live (on my boat) but there is a river in the way. This would mean spending time sat at a charging point during the day. 10 mins to fill and pay for my petrol wins for me.
As for these wonderful costs per mile. I will wait and see what the repair costs are going to be. My 11 year old Merc cost £10 per month to service at 120k miles. Will these wonderful electric cars still be running when they have done that mileage.
Alistair 2
The problems in Venezuela were caused by Chavez. He also nominated Maduro as his successor. Maduro is a qualified bus driver, but has no other qualifications to.my knowledge.
Chavez was a military man. When a military person takes over a country with a ‘stop anything that moves’ attitude, the future is always going to bleak. Every country needs armed forces for the ‘just in case’ scenario, but not a military person in charge.
When (in the days of Charvez), the oil price was high, no investment was made that would help the country through the bad times that always come. He wanted to be another ‘man of the people’ type. He gave free electricity to the poor who left lights and air conditioning on all day.
Having people marching up and down does nothing to put food on the table. See North Korea.
If you are prepared to risk your life, visit the country and see the legacy of Chavez.
I’d hardly call him good either. I was perhaps glossing over many hard facts in order to make a point.
Thank you for your input; always welcomed.
My wife and I are both disabled so using alternative transport is not really an option. Further we are both on state pension therefore on a fixed income. As we have, to use our car, we will have to forego other essentials.
Pension age, state pension, dwindling savings. I know where this is going to end up. Thank god I am old. Incompetence to govern breeds incompents.
Im Just speechless. I normally do leave comments here but im just fed up with this country’s government ripping all the general public off. We are the only country in all of Europe that pays the most tax and we have so many different types of tax. If i won the lottery tomorrow id leave and go and live in somewhere like Australia as they look after there people. What the hell has happened to this country.
unfortunately James, the grass is always greener! Although you may save money on your fuel and taxes the cost of living in Australia is so much more expensive than here and the main reason most people return after moving over there. At the same time, I a long with just about every other motorist is sick to death of just sucking up the dross left over from our self serving government
James, You just wouldn’t believe the amount of tax Australians have to pay.
The trouble with this country is the British have no back backbone we no the covement are taking the p**s France and other country’s would be out on the streets protesting they rights but no not the brits and the covenant no this
Why is the uk one of the most expensive places in europe to buy petrol/ diesel yes crude has gone up in price but the goverment will just add more tax and more vat to try and solve a failing economy
A few years ago crude was something like $139.00 a barrel and the fuel price at the time was no more than it is now.
As the price increases the chancellor gets more revenue from vat anyhow so no to any duty rises, the largest portion of the cost is tax anyhow
Looks like my bottle 1tr of whiskey is going to have be curbed that should help…Average price now in supermarkets £19..That will teach them not to help their customers at the pumps..C’est la vie..
Take a holiday in Germany, Mosel. Alcohol is far cheaper there because it is taxed less than in the UK.
Don’t understand why government have to put up the percentage rise — they Automatically get an increase as the price rises at the pumps !!!!
The downside will be massive increase in the price of everything that is hauled on our roads
The conspiracy theorist in me thinks: UK Brexit and all the fuel increase is timed to coincide so we are punished. “Look you Brexit’rs you did this to us”.
The wars and general may-hem around the world are pushing up prices. The Government is not helping as they want to push it up even more. When Brexit comes and we close the border doors, that’s when supply and demand economics will kick-in. Fewer workers will take low paying jobs will increase wages. It will be a gradual increase put over time we will see it. Then prices will drift up. Inflation will trigger interest rate increase and by the time you know-it we will be back to normal bank interest rates, our University Graduates will find jobs, and the gravy train at the cost of workers that all businesses have taken advantage of will stop.
All this may trigger companies to flee the UK, and the Government will have to do something to encourage them back, as they have done nothing to increase job prospects for the last 20 years.
My view if businesses want to go….let them… If Ireland wishes to have a border between England and then (EU), let them.
The UK has been in a 20-year depression and the Zero interest rates prove this fact. We are only just starting to see interest rates grow, but at 0.75% its got a long way to go before a normal stabilised 5%.
If you think we are not in a depression, just have a walk down the high street and count the shops that are closed and absorb the fact that large well-known retailers like MFI, ToysRus…etc…etc.. are all going under. Why? Because the banks have pulled there borrowing status…It is not because they can not operate. If you can not borrow money you can not invest in stock and you can not make a profit to pay the banks…. It is that simple. These businesses have been eased with low wages, but no more.
I suspect the UK will drop into a technical recession after Brexit, but no one will feel it as we all have been in a depression for the last 20 years.
OK back to topic…
Fuel prices: Remember when Diesel cars were promoted? I can…low tax incentives for company cars, High prices for new oil burners (cars). Technically the diesel engine is much more efficient and hardier then a petrol powered car. Anybody in the business knows this fact. That said the new cars these days are starting to catch-up.
So why punish diesel-powered cars? The claim is piticulets cause cancer and lung breathing difficulties, this may be true to an extent, but then just look at the facts.. Lorries, trains, ships and even the humble central heat that every household has caused 80% of this pollution. Normally we will look to get the big wins before going after the small wins that make no appreciable impact. That’s the problem with all this….it is simply not fair.
The new thing now is electric cars seriously, any EV that can do more than about 250 miles on one charge is only available to the rich and stupid (that will sacrifice other things to invest in a depreciating product). When EV’s become the same price as a normal car than it may catch on, but by that time there will be a tax on it (may not be road tax), on charging or on disposing of used batteries or some other thing they can think of to bring the status-quo back to ripping off the driver.
Who in their right minds will pay £80k for an EV that can only go half the distance on a full charge and if its too cold or too hot expect to loess 40% of that range. Than when you come to sell your overpriced EV its only worth 30% of the new value because cheaper EV’s have come out and no one will take a chance on buying your car as the Battery pack is likely to need replacing at £15k (maybe less as time progresses), + a charge to dispose of the old pack of maybe 2K…. I can see all sensible people queuing up around the block for the EV cars. (mind you TESLA had just this scenario for the Model 3 $35K EV – so what do I know).
What is the solution…?
You either go with the flow and vent your frustration on bords like this (Like I am) or take to riding your bike or public transport (what a joke that is).
If you made it to the end of my brain dump, well you have just as much time on your hands as I do….lol – All the same thanks for reading.
This is b*llocks, the oil companies are all making record profits, at our expense, and we are powerless to do a damn thing about it.
Sorry Tony but that statement is just not true. Oil companies are not making ‘record profits’ as you suggest, as a quick check of their results in recent years will show.
Stop buying fuel and clog public transport and be late for work etc. If they can not sell at these stupid prices, they will have NO CHOICE but to slash prices to get any profit or tax. It would cause them so big a head ache, it would act straight away, WITHOUT FAIL. Can not keep in business if no one wants your product. It would not last long, so people would have to bite the bullet for no more than a week or to, else the government and oil/petrol companies will be out of business big time.
I may be imagining it, but I was under the impression that the OPEC cartel took steps to DECREASE output in response to the glut of domestic oil in North America causing the crude oil price to drop. That is what started the increase in our fuel prices, nothing whatsoever to do with inability to produce. Sanctions against Iranian oil exports (very much at the behest of Saudi Arabia) and the socialist implosion of Venezuela also help to inflate the oiI price. I read quite recently that Saudi Arabia needs crude oil to hit $100/barrel in order to avoid a fiscal crisis. Be under no illusions – the oil price is being driven by OPEC actions. The UK also faces the impact of speculators depressing the value of Sterling, using the excuse of Brexit (panic, panic, the sky’s about to fall in…). In both cases, these are human actions (driven by greed) causing our fuel prices to increase.
The government cannot be less than happy about the oil price increasing because – irrespective of fuel duty – they reap more VAT on the higher pump prices. Nevertheless, with the size of the hole in UK government finances (big thanks to Blair and Brown for the welfare explosion that poisoned the well – so easy for one government to increase welfare spending, so difficult for another government to reduce it again without being seen as ‘nasty’), all manner of drastic tax increases need to be considered. Not long until VAT creeps up to 25%, for instance, I’ll bet. Fuel duty increases – another high probability. Vehicle Excise Duty (it’s not Road Tax because the money raised doesn’t get spent on roads, of course…) was reformed last year and we’ll see that tightening further as time passes – note the extra rate applied on cars selling for over £40k. £40k is a high price now, but in a decade you’ll see a lot more cars paying that extra amount of VED….