Drivers planning to fill up this Saturday are being warned that petrol and diesel prices have already increased sharply and are expected to keep climbing. The RAC has said pump prices have 'surged' following the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East, which pushed the price of a barrel of oil back to $100.
Oil price rise and Strait of Hormuz closure
The conflict between the US and Iran has led to the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz, slowing down a vital shipping lane that carries around 12% of the world's trade, including a quarter of global container traffic. Continued attacks on oil freight have also put vital oil shipments at risk. As a result, the price of Brent crude oil has risen by more than 6% to around $100 a barrel, the highest level since May.
Current pump prices
Simon Williams, RAC head of policy, said: “With oil breaching the $100-mark for the first time in two months, prices at the pumps have surged again since yesterday, taking the cost of filling up back to a level last seen in mid-June – something we all hoped we’d seen the back of.” He added that the average price of unleaded jumped by more than half a penny and is now up nearly 5.6p a litre since 6 July to 156.19p. Diesel went up by another penny, with an even sharper rise of almost 8.6p in just over two weeks, averaging 173.15p. Since the Iran war lows, this translates to percentage increases of 4% and 5% respectively.
Cost to fill up
The cost to fill an average-sized petrol-powered car is now £86, or £95 for a diesel equivalent. Williams warned that prices will keep going up and 'reach a new high' soon, adding: “Unless the hostilities end soon, it’s hard not to see the price of petrol reaching a new Iran war high.”
