AISLINN SIMPSON
AVERAGE petrol prices could rise to £1 a litre within weeks because of global instability, supply shortages and refinery problems, experts warned last night.
Steady increases over recent weeks have prompted the AA motoring organisation to call for an independent inquiry by the Transport Select Committee into rising prices and tight supplies of petrol and diesel, saying drivers feel “helpless”.
The insurgency in Iraq, the kidnap of oil workers in Nigeria, the approach of the hurricane season that hits oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s sabre-rattling have combined to send average prices soaring to 96.5p a litre for unleaded petrol and 97.1p for diesel, according to the AA’s monthly survey.
In some remote areas, prices are already above £1.00, with Gairloch filling station in Wester Ross quoting prices of £1.05 and Mackay’s in Durness, Sutherland, £1.09 yesterday.
Petrol started the year at 88.32p. Its lowest price this year was on February 1, when it was 86p a litre – a price last seen in June 2005.
Diesel started this year at 92.1p per litre and the gap between petrol and diesel is now just 0.6p – drastically down from 5.26p at the beginning of the year.
Edmund King, of the RAC Foundation, said prices started edging up 10 days ago and could reach £1 a litre in two to three weeks.
He said: “There’s still quite a bit of instability in the world markets, in Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela, and that’s what’s increasing the prices.
“It’s worrying – particularly for motorists in rural areas and disabled motorists who totally depend on their cars.”
Comments
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_Ro…
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