Petrol prices spike to record £1.55 as oil markets rally amid supply shortage fears
Petrol prices have broken records for the second time this week as fears escalate of supply shortages across global oil markets – following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Average prices at UK forecourts soaring to 151.67p for unleaded petrol and 155.23p for diesel, according to the latest gloomy data from RAC Fuel Watch.
Russia exports around eight per cent of the world’s oil supplies.
While the West has so far avoided energy specific sanctions, the conflict has driven concerns in already tight markets.
The elevated petrol prices add further pressure to consumers amid an intensifying cost of living crisis with household energy bills set to rise to nearly £2,000 per year from April, while shop price inflation rose 1.8 per cent last month.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams told City PM: “The sudden $10 jump in the oil price on Tuesday to $113 a barrel is likely to take the average price of petrol towards 155p a litre and diesel to 160p, particularly as it’s looking like this price isn’t just a market blip caused by the US and allies deciding to dip into the strategic oil reserve. If oil does stay at this level, the journey to an average unleaded price of 155p may be far too quick.”
“Pump prices will continue to go up but the commodity value of petrol is not rising at the rate of oil. That is giving drivers a less rough ride from the surge in oil prices,” says Luke Bosdet, the AA’s fuel price spokesman.
AA’s head of road policy Jack Policy also suggested the surge could start to fall back.
Speaking to City PM, he explained :“We are starting to come out of winter and cars become less thirsty. That means that motorists will be getting more miles from their fuel. The AA calculates that that better fuel efficiency, helped by eco-driving techniques, could add three miles range to a gallon of petrol. That would be the equivalent of a 9p a litre saving at the pump for a car that does 45 miles to the gallon.”
| Unleaded | 151.67p |
| Super Unleaded | 163.54 |
| Diesel | 155.23 |
| LPG | 83.03 |