Drivers are being warned to expect petrol prices to go up AGAIN after several oil-producing countries agreed to limit their output.
Members of the group Opec+, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, agreed yesterday (October 5) to cut production of oil by two million barrels per day, starting in November. The group says it has taken the decision due to “uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks”.
The decision to cut production is expected to hit motorists hardest, who have already seen fuel prices spiral this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Data from the RAC shows that the price of a litre of unleaded fuel peaked at 191.4p in July.
Since then, prices have fallen to around 162p per litre but this is still more than 20p higher than where prices were a year ago. The organisation’s spokesperson, Simon Williams, told BBC News: “The question is when, and to what extent, retailers choose to pass these increased costs on at their forecourts."
The RAC also believes that petrol prices should have fallen further in recent months. September saw the average price for a litre of unleaded drop by seven pence but it argues it should have been in the double figures.
Simon Williams continued: “Drivers really should have seen a far bigger drop as the wholesale price of delivered petrol was around 120p for the whole month. This means forecourts across the country should have been displaying prices around 152p given the long-term margin on unleaded is 7p a litre.
“In stark contrast to this, RAC Fuel Watch data has shown margins to be around 17p a litre – a huge 10p more than normal.” He also encouraged drivers to ‘shop around’ for the best deal, and warned that supermarkets are not always the cheapest place to get fuel.
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