In the last six days the average cost of a litre of diesel has risen by 5p and now stands at 147p, while petrol has risen 3p to 136p, the RAC estimates.
Those prices represent a 16-month high, with the spike in the retail cost of fuel linked to the ongoing military action in Iran.
The conflict has seen oil prices rise for a number of reasons. Iran itself is one of the world’s largest producers of crude, while countries including Saudi Arabia and Iraq have reduced output due to missile and drone strikes on refineries, or the threat of them. The Strait of Hormuz, meanwhile, a narrow sea channel between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, has been made impassable by the conflict due to insurance firms refusing to cover shipping in the region.
The RAC has added commentary to the pricing data it buys in, with the insurance and breakdown company’s Simon Williams saying that “while wholesale costs for any retailer buying in new stock will have gone up, it normally takes two weeks for price changes to work their way through to the forecourt.”
The firm does not address forecourts buying fuel on a daily spot-price basis, though, which has seen many smaller retailers paying oil firms 20p a litre more for diesel than they were a week ago, a cost they have had to pass on to drivers.
