As the price of energy soared at the weekend, motorists are being warned that the price of petrol could be doing the same.
In July, petrol prices hit an all time high at 151.53p-per-litre, with the price of diesel reaching 199.05p. These have since dropped due to oil prices falling amid recession fears - but it's now possible they could climb back up.
This is because the oil group Opec+ has voted to reduce the amount of oil that's being exported to Western countries.
Opec stands for Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and according to Investopedia, Opec+ is a "loosely affiliated" group of countries that aims to regulate the supply of oil, in order to set the price on the world market. This includes countries such as Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Its decision to slash oil exports means that we could soon be seeing the prices at the pumps rise again - here's why this could happen.
Why is the price of petrol likely to rise?
For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, the oil group Opec+ has decided to dramatically reduce its oil production - which, according to Forbes, will cut it down by two million barrels a day.
The reason for the group doing this could be because it wants to raise the price of oil amid the current financial problems many countries are facing.
But the motoring group RAC has said that this decision to cut down on producing and exporting oil could "inevitably" mean we see higher prices at the petrol pumps.
In a statement, RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams said: "Such a deep oil production cut will inevitably see oil prices rise, forcing up the wholesale cost of fuel. The question is when, and to what extent, retailers choose to pass these increased costs on at their forecourts."
He continued: "Despite three straight months of pump prices coming down, 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 last few weeks.
"If we see pump prices go up within the next fortnight, we’ll know that retailers are sticking to their strategy of taking far more margin on every litre they sell than they have historically – much to the dismay of drivers up and down the country."
How much is petrol right now?
As Simon explained, the price of petrol and diesel has fallen steadily since its peak in summer.
According to the RAC, the latest UK average petrol and diesel prices, in pence per litre, are:
- Unleaded - 162.43
- Super unleaded - 176.53
- Diesel - 80.28
These change frequently but you can keep up to date using the RAC's Fuel Watch feature.
This news comes after it was revealed yesterday that drivers could have been getting an extra 10p reduction on their fuel, if UK supermarkets hadn't upped their margins.
Simon explained: "While there are no rules on what retailers can charge for their fuel, it remains the case that the supermarkets are extremely influential in determining the UK average pump prices as they sell so much fuel.
"However, as many drivers will have noticed there lots of smaller forecourts which are now selling fuel much cheaper than the supermarkets. We would urge everyone to shop around for the best deals rather than simply assuming the supermarkets are the lowest because they have been in the past."
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