Joe Brough, owner of Offerton Green Service Station in Stockport, was interviewed on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday morning about the likelihood of fuel prices rising on the
forecourt, following the weekend attack on two major oil production facilities in Saudi Arabia - the world’s second biggest oil producer.
With around half of Saudi Arabia’s oil output affected by the attack, oil prices initially skyrocketed.
“There was an inevitable initial panic-driven surge in the oil price on Monday morning, but the situation then cooled,” according to RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams.
“While the wholesale prices of both petrol and diesel look set to increase by 3ppl, this doesn’t necessarily mean higher prices at the pumps because retailers only just began to pass on overdue wholesale price savings at the end of last week. At that point the 128ppl forecourt price of petrol was 7ppl too high which means retailers should have a cushion to absorb the spike. If the barrel price remains high for a sustained period however, it could easily lead to several pence a litre being added to the average price of both fuels. Even after Friday’s 3ppl supermarket cut petrol is still averaging 127.77ppl and diesel 131.26ppl.
“We are hopeful the fact the US is releasing emergency oil stocks and that Saudi Arabia operates a global storage network will mean that drivers here in the UK will not be too harshly affected.”
However Joe said fuel prices would undoubtedly change on his BP-branded forecourt later today. “We have a tanker coming in this afternoon. We buy on a daily basis on prices. The last delivery we had before today was Friday so the price between Friday and today will have gone up significantly.
“Generally prices are pretty stable, but when there are these events in the Far East, suddenly there’s a big spike. I’ve no doubt prices will go up.
“If the figures are right we’ll have to go up probably by about 4ppl.”
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