As Northern Ireland faces record-breaking fuel increases, an often asked question is why the price of petrol and diesel varies so much depending on location.
Some locations throughout the country are seeing levels of 170p and above per litre, while other areas are seeing prices in the 150p price range.
Although prices are changing so frequently it can be hard to keep up, the Consumer Council's Fuel Price Checker from March 3 indicates Newtownards has the lowest priced diesel on average in Northern Ireland currently (149.3p), while Limavady has the lowest price on average for petrol (144.4p).
Read more: NI fuel prices at record-breaking high as cost of filling up keeps rising
As for the highest prices on average, Newry is the highest for diesel (153.9p), while Magherafelt has the highest prices for petrol (152.2p).
However, there have been reports of different petrol stations in the same area having differently priced fuel.
On the Antrim Road in North Belfast, for example, the prices at the pumps at two petrol stations across the street from each other on Tuesday, March 8, varied by around 6p per litre for petrol and 8p for diesel.
Richard Williams, Head of Transport at the Consumer Council, said it can be hard to pin down why there are such differences in price by location, but provided two reasons why this may be the case.
He said: "We have definitely seen disparities by location recently on two levels. Firstly, it happens in different parts of Northern Ireland. For instance, last week the difference between the highest in Ballyclare for unleaded which was 152.9p and the cheapest in Craigavon which was 142p.
"But there are also differences in the same location. The only reason we can see is competition in local areas, where one station is competing with another local station.
"Another factor influencing pricing could be when the station actually bought its fuel, because they don't really buy that far ahead, so with prices going up so quickly they may have had to buy more.
"The area which is cheapest or more expensive does change quite a bit. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason why."
The overall higher prices of fuel are a reaction to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which has driven up the price of crude oil.
"A year ago crude oil was $68 a barrel, then on the 28th February it went up to $100 a barrel which was a big difference. But today that's up to $128 a barrel, which is almost a 50% increase on a year, but also a 20% increase in just a couple of days really," Richard added.
"The Ukraine and Russia issue and great concern to the potential of interruption to supply is driving most of this. That's more just the markets reacting to that issue, it's not that there is an issue with supply."
The Consumer Council's Fuel Price Index is updated every Thursday, however the organisation are looking at ways to update their figures more often.
The weekly fuel checker tool surveys 86 forecourts around Northern Ireland to find out the average costs of petrol and diesel.
Richard said: "We currently get our figures weekly but as things are changing so quickly we're trying to figure out how we can get daily figures so we can keep up with it all.
"We're in the process of asking people to send us across photos of forecourt prices as it really is a daily issue, where prices are going up so quickly."
In terms of the supply of fuel, Richard added that he is not aware of any supply issues, just the current pricing issue.
He urged: "People shouldn't be worried or panic buying at all, there's absolutely nothing wrong with supply."
Tips to save fuel from the Consumer Council:
- Keep your tyres inflated - reduce the drag
- Declutter your car - Less weight means less fuel
- Don’t fill your car up – fuel is heavy
- Brake and accelerate less – they burn fuel
- Avoid stopping and starting where possible – roll up slowly
The Consumer Council's fuel price checker can be found by clicking here and the Transport Knowledge Hub can be found here.
Read more: Expert explains how to keep petrol and diesel costs down as prices rise in NI
Read more: Diesel and petrol prices across NI as they continue to soar
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