The increases come amid disruption to Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and continuing instability affecting energy markets and shipping routes. Saudi Arabia has partially restarted its damaged East-West Pipeline following drone strikes, while cancelled crude allocations and repairs to the network continue to affect supplies to European refiners.
Fuel Prices Rise as Saudi Pipeline Repairs Continue
According to Petrol Prices UK, the average price of unleaded has reached 173.9p a litre, while diesel is at 199.9p. Super unleaded stands at 189.9p and premium diesel at 215.9p, leaving motorists facing markedly higher costs when filling their vehicles.
For a 55-litre family car, a full tank of petrol now costs £95.33, compared with £108.76 for diesel. The RAC has also recorded a rapid increase during September. Its head of policy, Simon Williams, said the cost of filling a family car had risen by almost £5 since the start of the month, reaching about £94 for petrol and £106 for diesel.
The rise has coincided with disruption to Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, also known as Petroline. Parts of the pipeline damaged by drone strikes have been repaired, allowing limited crude flows to resume towards the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
Limited operations on the pipeline are expected to resume within days, but full repairs to damaged sections and pumping stations could take between six and eight weeks. Saudi Aramco had already warned its European term customers of substantial disruption or cancelled crude shipments in September and October, with October allocations to at least two European refiners still cancelled.
Oil prices had already moved above $100 a barrel earlier in September for the first time since July, following the latest round of strikes in the Iran war. The continuing instability has added to concerns over the amount motorists may have to pay in the coming weeks.
According to Williams, the pressure on the Chancellor to support households is building because many people depend on their cars. He said there was a “strong argument” for keeping fuel duty at its present level, at least until the end of Parliament, rather than allowing it to begin rising from January.
Government Faces Calls Over Fuel Duty as Gulf Conflict Continues
The impact of the conflict on fuel prices has also prompted calls for government action. Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said drivers had paid billions of pounds in what he described as “war premiums” during the six months of conflict in the Gulf, compared with what they might have paid if oil and pump prices had remained close to pre-war levels.
Gooding said motorists were likely to pay billions more before peace was restored. While acknowledging that the Government could not end the war, he argued that it could recognise the financial impact on motorists and businesses caused by higher petrol and diesel prices.
He also raised the prospect of a fuel-duty cut at the Budget. According to Gooding, the Exchequer currently receives more than 80p for every litre of fuel sold at forecourts through a combination of fuel duty and VAT.
The Treasury rejected suggestions that higher pump prices were producing a VAT windfall. A spokesperson said decisions on taxation were for the Chancellor to announce at fiscal events rather than through responses to “rumour, speculation or proposals”. The spokesperson added that the Chancellor was focused on supporting families and businesses, British jobs and economic growth while meeting the fiscal rules.
The Government has also linked British military support for Saudi Arabia to efforts to prevent further instability in the region. Defence minister Luke Pollard said the deployment of an RAF Voyager refuelling aircraft to Saudi Arabia was intended to help prevent “further escalation” in the Red Sea. Pollard described the Red Sea as an important route for oil shipments and said further escalation could place fuel prices at additional risk.
For British drivers, the immediate figures are already clear: average diesel is close to £2 a litre, while filling a 55-litre diesel family car costs £108.76. With repairs to Saudi oil infrastructure still under way and disruption to some European crude allocations continuing, the latest pump prices reflect the pressures already working through the fuel market.
