New rise in cost of crude already affecting consumers even though pump prices stayed up as oil price fell, says AA
Pump prices are on the rise again after a reprieve of less than a month, as a rebound in oil prices in the past three weeks feeds through into higher petrol and diesel costs, according to the AA's latest fuel cost report.
Following a penny-a-litre decline in the average UK petrol price in the month to the middle of June, the price has crept up by a third of a penny in the past week to 136.07p a litre, the AA said.
The motorists' association said drivers were losing out because rising oil prices are feeding through into the pump price much more quickly than falling prices are. As a result, short-term oil price declines are often ignored altogether since, by the time they would have been factored into the pump price, they have risen again, eliminating the case for a reduction.
Although the average petrol price fell by 0.86p a litre in the four weeks to mid-June, the underlying oil price fell further and more quickly, short-changing drivers by at least 2p a litre over the period, at a cost of �8.49 to the average two-car family, the AA calculates.
Through most of March, as Brent crude was trading at about $115 a barrel, the average petrol price hovered around 133.5p a litre. The petrol price then rose steadily in April and hit 137.43p on 9 May, as crude jumped in April to breach $126 a barrel.
However, as oil fell to below $110 a barrel in early May before climbing back to around $115, the cost of petrol stuck at around 135.75p ? some 2.25p more than when the crude price was last at that level, just two months earlier.
Last month, The F�d�ration Nationale d'Automobile (FIA), a coalition of motoring groups such as the AA, demanded an inquiry into how benchmark petrol and diesel prices are set at Europe's key trading centre, the Rotterdam spot market.
Edmund King, the AA's president, said: "Without transparency in the oil and fuel markets and a regulator to ensure fair prices, drivers, consumers and the nation are open to being ripped off by whoever wants to make an extra buck. The apparent failure to pass on the full benefit of early May's oil mini-crash adds more weight to the FIA's demands."
The average price of diesel at the moment is 139.77p a litre, down 1.72p on mid-May. Diesel peaked at 143.04p in the second week of May.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jun/17/petrol-prices-rise-again-after-barely-falling
Top 10s Frank Lampard Food & drink Google City breaks Motoring
No comments:
Post a Comment