Britons, already facing a cost of living crisis with rising energy and food bills, are now being warned to brace for soaring fuel prices due to a major cut in oil exports.
Some of the world’s leading oil-producing countries have agreed to cut the amount they export to Western countries in an attempt to stabilize falling crude prices.
Members of Opec+ – a group representing oil-producing countries – including Saudi Arabia and Russia – plan to cut production by two million barrels a day.
British car groups, including the RAC, have today warned that OPEC+’s cut in exports will ‘inevitably’ lead to soaring petrol and diesel prices.
And it will come as a major blow to drivers and businesses looking to tighten their belts amid soaring inflation and energy prices in the UK.
Warning of potential petrol and diesel price rises, RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Such a deep cut in oil production will inevitably see oil prices rise, forcing up the wholesale price of fuel.
Britons, already facing a cost of living crisis with rising energy and food bills, are now being warned to brace for soaring fuel prices (Image: Library image of a driver filling up their car) due to a major cut in oil exports
Members of Opec+ (pictured: At a meeting in Vienna this week) – a group representing oil-producing countries – including Saudi Arabia and Russia – plan to cut production by two million barrels a day
“The question is when and to what extent the retailers choose to pass on these increased costs to their forecourts.
“Despite pump prices falling three months in a row, we believe that in many cases drivers are being charged more to fill up today than they should be based on average wholesale prices over the past few weeks.
“If we see pump prices rise in the next fortnight, we will know that retailers are sticking to their strategy of taking far more margin on every liter they sell than they have historically – much to the dismay of drivers up and down in the country.’
Meanwhile, Howard Cox, of lobby group FairFuel, told MailOnline: ‘This is a perfect and lucrative storm for the fuel supply chain to drive up pump prices.
“Again, motorists will be exploited with diesel, which carries the biggest burden. This is not good for inflation or the cost of living crisis.
‘The pound has bounced back above pre-mini budget levels and is now one of the best performing currencies.
“But that won’t stop speculators using OPEC’s opportunistic production cut to drive up the cost of stockpiling.
‘Wholesale prices have already started to rise and I predict fuel will rise by 2-5p per litre. liters over the next fortnight.’
It comes after the Saudi-led OPEC+ announced plans to cut oil production by two million barrels per day.
The move, which was criticized by the US and also shocked Europe, was announced after an OPEC+ meeting in Vienna this week.
OPEC+ said the decision was a step to stabilize global crude oil prices.
Prices rose earlier this year due to a huge worldwide surge in demand as countries and companies looked to kick-start their economies again after Covid restrictions.
But they have since started to fall due to a drop in demand – primarily driven by inflation and worldwide economic uncertainty.
But the move by OPEC+, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia among its members, will bolster the Kremlin’s finances and help Putin cope with a looming European ban on oil imports, which will drive up fuel prices worldwide as winter approaches.
The EU’s ban on Russian oil imports by sea – following Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine – which is due to come into effect in December. Britain is also implementing its own phase-out plan for Russian oil imports.
OPEC+’s move will also further exacerbate inflation, which has reached decade-high levels in many countries, and hurt European households already struggling with skyrocketing energy bills.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre described the decision as a ‘mistake’ and said it was ‘misguided’.
It comes after the Saudi-led OPEC+ announced plans to cut oil production by two million barrels per day. The move, which was criticized by the US and also shocked Europe, was announced after an OPEC+ meeting in Vienna this week
But the move by OPEC+, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia (pictured: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin) among its members, will bolster the Kremlin’s finances and help Putin cope with a looming European ban on oil imports, which will drive fuel up. prices worldwide, just as winter is approaching
It comes as car groups yesterday claimed drivers are being denied a further 10p cut in petrol prices due to major retailers boosting profit margins.
The RAC said the average price of a liter of fuel in the UK fell by almost 7p to 162.9p in September as oil prices fell.
This was the sixth-biggest monthly drop in average gasoline prices since 2000, but the cut should have been deeper, the car company argued.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: ‘Drivers really should have seen a much bigger drop as the wholesale price of petrol delivered was around 120p for the whole month.
“This means that forecourts across the country should have shown prices around 152p, as the long-term margin on unleaded is 7p per litres.
‘In stark contrast to this, RAC Fuel Watch data has shown that margins are around 17p per liters – a whopping 10p more than usual.’
Supermarkets usually charge around 3.5p per liter less than the UK average, but are currently only around 1.5p cheaper.
Williams noted that Morrisons offers discounted fuel to customers who spend a certain amount of money in store.
This is a type of promotion that “is only seen when supermarkets benefit from lower wholesale prices”, he explained.
He urged drivers to ‘shop around for the best deals’ rather than ‘simply assume’ that supermarkets are the cheapest fuel retailers because they have been in the past.
The average price of a liter of diesel fell by 3.5p to 180.2p last month.