In 7 weeks between October 3rd to November 30th, the wholesale price of diesel fell by 9.0%, yet pump prices hardly fell at all. Just 0.5%. During the same period when wholesale petrol prices fell 11.2%, pump prices dropped
only 5.1%.
From the beginning of October to end of November, the oil price fell 31% in Sterling from £66 to £45 per barrel. (Note figures in Sterling to nullify $ currency effect) - BUT during the same period, retail profits
per litre rocketed (see graph below) by 97.4% to 14.5 p per litre for petrol and 240% to 15.65p for diesel.
It’s clear that if it were not for the big 4 supermarkets’ price cuts, always lead by Asda, pump prices would be considerably higher.
On November 23rd, 2018, oil hit £45 per barrel. In the last 2 years, when oil correspondingly hit this price level on 31 different occasions, pump prices at these same market oil price, varied from £1.35 to £1.19
for diesel and £1.26 to £1.16 for petrol. That’s a variance of for diesel of 16p and petrol 10p per litre. How can the price of fuel differ so much when oil is at precisely the same cost per barrel?
In a survey of 71,000 road users carried out in September 2018, 3 out of 4 respondents said that they believe the big Oil Companies operate a pump pricing cartel