Why fuel prices are rising at fastest rate in 18 years

Soaring oil prices and weak pound blamed,
but are customers still being short-changed?

One-Minute Read

Price rises at the pump follow a huge jump in the oil prices over the past year, with
Brent Crude breaking through the $80 a barrel mark in May for the
first time in nearly four years. Oil peaked at around $120 a barrel
in 2014 but soon after dropped to as low as $40.

Will price hikes continue?

Yesterday Bloomberg reported that the US government had
asked Saudi Arabia and other Opec producers to increase oil
production by around 1 million barrels per day, following the rise
of US gasoline prices to their highest level in three years.

That could help to stabilise prices at the pump, or even bring
them down.

But will UK consumers benefit?

Perhaps not. While soaring oil prices and a weak post-Brexit
pound is “a punitive combination for anyone that drives regularly”
says the RAC, The Times reports that some campaigners have
accused fuel companies of “capitalising by raising pump prices when
the wholesale value increases while failing to pass on costs when
oil prices decline”.

Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK campaign, said current
pump prices are 1p to 2p per litre more than they need be.

“Businesses in the fuel supply chain are yet again exploiting
the already highest taxed motorists in the world by not reducing
pump prices when oil prices fall” he said. “They rise like a rocket
and fall like a feather. As a consequence, inflation, GDP and
consumer spending is being impacted badly by these greedy
companies.”