Petrol firms under pressure to cut prices to below £1 a litre after cost of crude oil plummets
PETROL firms are coming under pressure to go below £1 a litre after the cost of crude oil plummeted yesterday.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude oil — the benchmark for setting pump prices — dropped below $20 a barrel for the first time in 18 years.
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It slipped as low as $18.10 at one point. But despite the heavy falls, the price at the pumps refuses to budge much below 110p a litre.
Diesel drivers, meanwhile, are typically being charged £1.16 per litre to fill up.
Howard Cox, of FairFuelUK, said the average prices of petrol and diesel should be 98p and 106p a litre.
But he said the UK’s fuel supply chain had “dishonestly held back” savings.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “In theory, petrol prices could fall below £1 per litre if the lower wholesale costs were reflected at the pumps.
“But at the same time, people are driving very few miles, so they’re selling vastly lower quantities of petrol and diesel.”
The AA said retailers are charging 10p a litre more than £1 to offset lower sales — keeping pump prices high.
It said: “Some drivers, such as NHS and other essential workers are being overcharged on average by more than a fiver a tank.”
The Sun Says
THE petrol price rip-off is laid bare as never before.
For the first time, oil costs less than nothing. Yes, you read that right.
Is fuel plummeting on our forecourts? Of course not. Retailers say they cannot afford that, because they’re still flogging petrol and diesel bought at higher prices. What self-serving rubbish.
If the wholesale cost was soaring, pump prices would rocket in minutes.
It’s true that a chunk of the fuel price is tax. And far fewer of us are filling up. But many ARE still having to drive to work and carry out essential deliveries.
FairFuelUK want a new watchdog to ensure fair prices for ever. We agree.
Drivers are sick of being taken for a ride.
MOST READ IN MOTORS
The fall in Brent crude comes after oil prices in the US went negative for the first time ever.
Buyers were being paid to take delivery of oil because storage is running out.
Prices have plunged because of oversupply and a collapse in global demand due to the decline in economic activity caused by coronavirus lockdown measures.
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