Petrol and diesel prices are set to rise by 3p a litre before Christmas due to a “perfect storm” of problems with UK supply caused by pipeline damage, a gas refinery explosion in Austria and OPEC’s decision to reduce the amount of oil produced globally by extending production cuts.
These factors have led to an increase in the wholesale price for gas which is now it at its highest since 2012 (73.7p per Therm) and the crude oil price at its highest level since 2015, ($65.72 per barrel). An expected 3p a litre increase is an extra £2 per fill up on a normal family saloon car, the impact on gas prices is not expected to hit us domestically in our energy bills for about 6 months in the future.
Ineos pipeline damaged
The shock damage of the North Sea Forties Pipeline near Aberdeen came after a routine inspection found a hairline crack, which led to a reduction in the supply of oil from the North Sea. The pipeline normally pumps half a million barrels of oil into the UK a day and is one of the biggest sources of oil, which is refined and turned into petrol and diesel.
Owners of the pipeline Ineos said in a statement.”Ineos has mobilized a repair and oil spill response team following the identification of a very small amount of oil seepage during a routine inspection of the Forties Pipeline System at Red Moss, near Netherley, Aberdeenshire, at approximately 10:00 hours yesterday (6 December 2017). We will work to resolve the issue and monitor the situation. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.”
Austrian gas plant explosion
A few hours later, an explosion at a natural gas facility near Austria’s border with Slovakia left one person dead. A further 18 people were injured in the morning blast at the plant in Baumgarten an der March, east of Vienna, regional Red Cross official Sonja Kellner said.
“The explosion set off a fire, which operator Gas Connect said was contained by midmorning. The facility was shut down”, Gas Connect spokesman Armin Teichert said. Police wrote on Twitter that the situation “is under control.”
There was no immediate word on what caused the blast at the plant, where pipelines connect and gas from Russia, Norway and other countries is compressed before travelling into Europe.
OPEC agree to further cuts
The oil and gas markets were reacting to the accidents while also considering the longer term implications of OPEC’s decision to extend production cuts that was made at the start of December. All factors together led to a further increase in the price crude oil that was already rising in the months earlier. Crude oil surged by 7.6 per cent between October and November, reaching its highest level since December 2016, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Pump prices are now expected to surge from 120.76p a litre to 123.21p a litre for unleaded while diesel leaps from 123.21p a litre to 126.21p.
How to keep fuel costs down
PetrolPrices has said this advice many times, we’re not sure if you’re reading it still but we’re going to say this again because we don’t want any of you to overpay for fuel.
It’s now more important than ever to make sure that you use our cheap fuel locator to always know you are buying the cheapest fuel near you, via website or price alert email. Use our app in unfamiliar locations, especially on motorways or major trunk roads, you can save literally 20p a litre by coming off the motorway and going to the cheapest station nearby by using our app, but do not use the app while you are driving.
Fuel pricing is based largely on fuel duty, the wholesale price of oil and the competition around it. If an ASDA supermarket that sells fuel is near you this will keep the prices of other stations nearby lower because of their “price promise” of being the cheapest supermarket within 3 miles.
If you are willing to drive a few miles, less affluent locations with large clusters of supermarkets tend to have lower prices than more affluent locations. Locations near refineries tend to have lower prices, medium sized towns tend to have lower prices versus rural or highly urban locations. Finally, supermarkets often have deals where they will provide money off if you spend a certain amount at the store. Always check your supermarket and ask them what deals they have.
What do you think of the expected increase in fuel costs just before Christmas? What methods are you using to make sure you keep your fuel expenditure under control? Let us know in the comments below.
Walk, use public transport and use your car as a luxury item in your life, on the bright side it will improve your fitness if you get more exercise (cuts down: petrol cost, environmental damage locally and globally, damage to health).
Over population is a major factor, don’t forget that.
Okay for town and City folk. Ever tried to walk or cycle 5 miles up a busy A road! Public transport what’s that?
And what about those of us that can’t walk very far, we have no choice but to use our cars.
I always buy fuel at Morrison’s before setting off on long journeys as their fuel is the cheapest around at the moment. I never buy from motorways etc
You know there may have been things happening on pipe lines etc, do you really believe it all , remember the one thing in the uk is profit ! We , the public alway dig into our pockets and don’t question things. I wonder!!!!
It’s my understanding that when many years ago North sea oil came on line was not “the right sort of oil” for petrol & diesel.
… and yet Brent crude is the yard-stick against which other sources of crude oil are judged.
But remember that if your car does say 10 miles to the litre thats about 12p per mile so, as is my case, the nearest ASDA is 6 miles away past the local Sainsburys it’s going to cost me £1.44 more to get there so needs to be 3p per litre cheaper to be worthwhile.
That said I do tend to top up if passing your stated cheapest ones when I have less than half a tank in.
I use an electric vehicle and so do not have to worry about petrol and diesel price increases. My EV costs me about 1.25pence per mile for electricity. However it is a concern that gas prices will be going up again now that winter cold weather is with us.
The price of oil on the stock market today $62.98 & the price of Natural gas $2.69 last winter gas was in the region of $3.60 to $4.00 on the markets & when you consider that gas is usually bought in advance of winter we are being ripped off again with both Gas & Oil prices.As i am not a broker just joe soap i will stand correction if I am wrong.
It typical of OPEC to give themselves a nice Christmas bonus as if they don’t make enough. Always the same their profits go down by a million or two as if a few billions isn’t enough with their mansions and making enough in one second that most people would struggle to make in a lifetime. They cut the supply to increase their profits and who suffers the everyday man trying live and drive a car.
I notice as soon as the price of oil goes up the price of petrol and diesel goes up straight up. But it struggles to come down when the price of oil goes down.
Lets be quite honest, the oil companies don’t need an excuse to increase prices, they do it because they are not controlled by any authorised dept. My MP told me years ago the oil companies are “self regulating” so what’s to stop them ripping us off whenever they choose.
Why are we not surprised!!. They make enough money out off us they should be able to absolve this out of there prophets.
Merry Chrismas
x
I find it strange that this always happens just before a holiday period. The OPEC countries are holding the world to ransom. Or am I just being cynical?
Have they given a date for when it due to go up
Major fuel savings have been proved to have been made by not lugging around a full tank if you don’t need to. It works for me!!
driving economically would seem a no brainer – I once saw a Subaru impreza with a bumper sticker complaing about the cost of fuel!
I agree with you James. Several habits causing fuel wastage that I frequently notice include :
(a)Buying and driving fuel-guzzling monsters but mainly used with only one occupant.
(b)Pressure for raising motorway speed limit, coupled with many vehicles already travelling on motorways at well over the legal speed limit.
(c)Starting the engine and leaving it running for a long time ( often whilst playing around with a mobile phone) before moving off.
(d)After following behind a vehicle perceived as slow just before leaving a motorway, speeding up to go less than 200 metres on the exit slip and then slamming brakes on when about to join the ordinary non-motorway road system.
(e)Fierce acceleration soon followed by rapid braking.
I love it when people say but I don’t use a Car. Or I dont have a Petrol or Diesel car. (Do you Buy your Food from a shop or grow your own? If you buy from a Shop it effects you. If you Power your Electric Car then it’s likely been used to create the Electricity you use to power your car)
I did not know until reading the section entitled ‘How to keep fuel costs down’ that Asda has any so-called ‘fuel promise’ that its fuel costs would be cheaper than other outlet within 3 miles. About 4 miles from where I live there is an Asda fuel station where diesel costs 115.9 p/ litre and within 0.5 miles of that station there is a Sainsbury’s fuel station which sells diesel for 111.9p/ litre. A further small benefit of choosing the Sainsbury’s option is that Nectar points are also awarded. Incidentally both fuel stations feature in petrolprices.com and the prices quoted there are correct and those prices have remained stable for at least the last two weeks.
In my above comment I should have used the phrase ‘price promise’ rather than ‘fuel promise,’ also Asda’s promise refers only to fuel stations run by supermarkets rather than to all fuel stations although it is very rare for a non-supermarket outlet to have lower fuel prices than any neighbouring supermarket.
Which standard saloons have a 63 litre tank? (3 × 63.33 = £2.00)
Walk, use public transport and use your car as a luxury item in your life, on the bright side it will improve your fitness if you get more exercise (cuts down: petrol cost, environmental damage locally and globally, damage to health).
Over population is a major factor, don’t forget that.
Okay for town and City folk. Ever tried to walk or cycle 5 miles up a busy A road! Public transport what’s that?
And what about those of us that can’t walk very far, we have no choice but to use our cars.
I always buy fuel at Morrison’s before setting off on long journeys as their fuel is the cheapest around at the moment. I never buy from motorways etc
You know there may have been things happening on pipe lines etc, do you really believe it all , remember the one thing in the uk is profit ! We , the public alway dig into our pockets and don’t question things. I wonder!!!!
It’s my understanding that when many years ago North sea oil came on line was not “the right sort of oil” for petrol & diesel.
… and yet Brent crude is the yard-stick against which other sources of crude oil are judged.
But remember that if your car does say 10 miles to the litre thats about 12p per mile so, as is my case, the nearest ASDA is 6 miles away past the local Sainsburys it’s going to cost me £1.44 more to get there so needs to be 3p per litre cheaper to be worthwhile.
That said I do tend to top up if passing your stated cheapest ones when I have less than half a tank in.
I use an electric vehicle and so do not have to worry about petrol and diesel price increases. My EV costs me about 1.25pence per mile for electricity. However it is a concern that gas prices will be going up again now that winter cold weather is with us.
The price of oil on the stock market today $62.98 & the price of Natural gas $2.69 last winter gas was in the region of $3.60 to $4.00 on the markets & when you consider that gas is usually bought in advance of winter we are being ripped off again with both Gas & Oil prices.As i am not a broker just joe soap i will stand correction if I am wrong.
It typical of OPEC to give themselves a nice Christmas bonus as if they don’t make enough. Always the same their profits go down by a million or two as if a few billions isn’t enough with their mansions and making enough in one second that most people would struggle to make in a lifetime. They cut the supply to increase their profits and who suffers the everyday man trying live and drive a car.
I notice as soon as the price of oil goes up the price of petrol and diesel goes up straight up. But it struggles to come down when the price of oil goes down.
Lets be quite honest, the oil companies don’t need an excuse to increase prices, they do it because they are not controlled by any authorised dept. My MP told me years ago the oil companies are “self regulating” so what’s to stop them ripping us off whenever they choose.
Why are we not surprised!!. They make enough money out off us they should be able to absolve this out of there prophets.
Merry Chrismas
x
I find it strange that this always happens just before a holiday period. The OPEC countries are holding the world to ransom. Or am I just being cynical?
Have they given a date for when it due to go up
Major fuel savings have been proved to have been made by not lugging around a full tank if you don’t need to. It works for me!!
driving economically would seem a no brainer – I once saw a Subaru impreza with a bumper sticker complaing about the cost of fuel!
I agree with you James. Several habits causing fuel wastage that I frequently notice include :
(a)Buying and driving fuel-guzzling monsters but mainly used with only one occupant.
(b)Pressure for raising motorway speed limit, coupled with many vehicles already travelling on motorways at well over the legal speed limit.
(c)Starting the engine and leaving it running for a long time ( often whilst playing around with a mobile phone) before moving off.
(d)After following behind a vehicle perceived as slow just before leaving a motorway, speeding up to go less than 200 metres on the exit slip and then slamming brakes on when about to join the ordinary non-motorway road system.
(e)Fierce acceleration soon followed by rapid braking.
I love it when people say but I don’t use a Car. Or I dont have a Petrol or Diesel car. (Do you Buy your Food from a shop or grow your own? If you buy from a Shop it effects you. If you Power your Electric Car then it’s likely been used to create the Electricity you use to power your car)
I did not know until reading the section entitled ‘How to keep fuel costs down’ that Asda has any so-called ‘fuel promise’ that its fuel costs would be cheaper than other outlet within 3 miles. About 4 miles from where I live there is an Asda fuel station where diesel costs 115.9 p/ litre and within 0.5 miles of that station there is a Sainsbury’s fuel station which sells diesel for 111.9p/ litre. A further small benefit of choosing the Sainsbury’s option is that Nectar points are also awarded. Incidentally both fuel stations feature in petrolprices.com and the prices quoted there are correct and those prices have remained stable for at least the last two weeks.
In my above comment I should have used the phrase ‘price promise’ rather than ‘fuel promise,’ also Asda’s promise refers only to fuel stations run by supermarkets rather than to all fuel stations although it is very rare for a non-supermarket outlet to have lower fuel prices than any neighbouring supermarket.
Which standard saloons have a 63 litre tank? (3 × 63.33 = £2.00)