Petrol prices set to increase as oil hits record highs
Petrol prices set to rise further as oil hits record highs
Wednesday, 16, Apr 2008 01:54
Motorists are set to pay more at the pump as oil prices rise to a new high on supply concerns.
Luke Bosdet of the AA said: "Every day is a record high.
"It just keeps on going up and up and up."
It now costs £54 to fill up a typical car, as a litre of unleaded costs an average of 107.94p while diesel has hit 117.13p.
Rising oil prices are being blamed for the cost increases. New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose $2.03 to close at a record high of $113.76 a barrel yesterday.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for May increased to a record intraday high at $112.08 a barrel.
Reports of production outages in Mexico, due to bad weather, and Nigeria, due to a fire, raised concerns over supply. In addition, oil giant Shell said shipments in the southern US had been disrupted.
Although each incident on its own could be considered minor, when taken altogether the supply problems are having an impact on investor confidence.
A report from the Department of Energy, due out later today, is expected to show a continued fall in stockpile levels which could lead to a further spike in the oil price.
Last Tuesday, a report from the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) found the recent high volatility in oil prices is down to a number of short-lived developments, such as refinery difficulties and the weak US dollar.
However, OPEC said it expects demand to slow in the second quarter and there will be no need to raise production levels.