Price of unleaded rockets past diesel
Wednesday 27th May 2009, 3:08PM BST.
Unleaded petrol is currently more expensive than diesel at a service station near Wolverhampton – with experts warning more will follow suit.
The BP Garage in Birmingham New Road, Coseley, was today selling unleaded for 102p a litre – a penny more than diesel. Unleaded traditionally has been cheaper than diesel.
But it is set to continue soaring, the Association of British Drivers insist.
Experts blame the increase on speculators in the City pushing prices up whenever there is a hint of economic recovery, and that any risk of diesel prices going up is being tempered by an over-supply.
Petrol station owners in Wolverhampton reckon the wholesale price of petrol, which is what they pay before it reaches the forecourts, was now 4p more for unleaded than diesel.
Paul Biggs, of the Association of British Drivers, said: “There is good news for diesel drivers but the fact that unleaded is going up again is not.”
At press time, diesel was still outstripping petrol by about 5p a litre at garages in the city, although that is expected to change over the coming weeks.
At the BP Garage in Willenhall Road, unleaded was 99.9p a litre, while diesel was 104.9p. At Waitrose in Marston Road, Penn, petrol was 97.9p a litre compared to 101.9p for diesel.
Shailesh Parekh, owner of Molineux Service Station in Stafford Road, said: “The wholesale price of unleaded petrol is actually now 4p more than diesel.
“I am making a loss on unleaded, even though we sell it for 103.9p a litre, just below diesel at 104p.”
The UK average for a litre of unleaded is currently 97.9p and £103.5 for diesel. The owner of the BP Garage in Coseley refused to comment on its prices.
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Can see another record profits year for the petrol companies! I wonder just why that is????
The government should step in and say unless petrol companies can show profits DROPPED by MORE than 10% over the previous year then price increases cannot be allowed and even then limited to no more than 5% for the following year… and if profits increase by more than 3% per year then prices must DROP by at least 5% for the following year….
Report abuse
Perhaps it’s the government who should take less tax on fuel. These companies know they have everyone by the short and curlies because we have to pay it. I wonder what will happen when the big day arrives when oil dries up and is no longer a world and government cash spinner???
Report abuse
Paragraph 4 says it all, “speculators”. Like the greedy bankers who think they can carry on as normal now the media are focused on MPs these ***** should be held to account. It was they, not the oil producers, who pushed oil to $150 +. About time the media named and shamed.
Report abuse
1 – I wish the Government would hold that much sway with the Petrol companies, but they simply do not.
These are global companies that rake in billions of pounds across the world each week at our expense. It’s an absolute joke and someone ought to be able to do something to drive the prices down, but who’d be able to do it??
Report abuse
I NOTICE THAT ITS ONLY BP STATIONS THAT ARE MENTIONED. NO OTHERS BUT BP AS THE DEAREST FUEL ALL OVER THE WORLD.AND I LIVE IN TURKEY
Report abuse
The Arabs have the country over a barrel.
The government is completely dependant on the Tax off petrol to run the country.
Every time the petrol goes up the tax goes up.
Western governments have put no effort into finding viable alternatives to petrol because no other alternative will raise the revenue petrol does.
So stop moaning about the cost of a barrel of oil and just think, it is a small amount compared to the money the government screw out of you.
Oh and by the way it won’t change if the Conservatives get in. Remember Thatchers escalator plus inflation petrol rises?
Report abuse
Nedball.
The amount these Global Companies make is chicken feed compared with the money the Government make.
Report abuse
I regularly fill up at the BP on the A449 as it’s the only station from my home in Pendeford to the M6. I couldn’t believe the price of unleaded this morning. I now plan to boycott the place until the prices fall in line with others in the area. However, I think I’ll have a long wait. The government won’t do a damn thing as we’ve paid the highest duty on fuel for decades, compared with the rest of Europe.
Report abuse
Do people think or find out anything before posting comments on here?
Oil companies make almost all their money from exploration, development, refining and distributing their products.
Find out how much of that £1.00/litre goes to the government and stop harping on about how much of a rip-off the petrol companies are. Who else is going out and finding (drilling for) the stuff? Asda and Tesco? It takes years to bring on an oil field.
As for ‘speculators’. People speculate on prices rising or falling based on supply and demand. If anything they just bring about a market price more quickly. Oil is a scarce and ultra-valuable resource that is rapidly running out. It should be priced 50 times what it is today based on its necessity and scarcity.
Also- you can speculate on the oil price, but not on the unleaded/diesel price separately. They come from the same barrels but are just different products from the same cracking process (breaking off hydrocarbons).
Speculators are therefore not responsible for the differential in the unleaded/diesel prices. This will be due to supply/demand. Read about it on the AA site. Don’t take the word of some lazy journo.
Governments don’t hold sway with multinational companies because the multinationals can happily do business elsewhere.
Report abuse
Looks like we poor motorists will have to have blockades like the lorry drivers did.
Report abuse
These prices are criminal. Looks like it’s time for me to buy a diesel and either run it on red diesel or stolen diesel, people in my shoes are left with no other option.
Report abuse
This is criminal, especially at a time when people are losing their homes due to the recession. The Government need to reduce their tax on fuel by over half. I have been forced to run my car on red diesel as I simply cannot afford the forecourt prices anymore.
Report abuse
What is the point!!!! nobody ever listens!!!! they only listen to their expenses.
Report abuse
Its not the government taxes or the oil companies who are pushing up prices.
As it was last time, its “speculators” in the city waiting to make a quick buck. Look where the last set of record prices put us… in one of the deepest recesions in history. But, who cares as long as some lazy day trader can make sure they get their bonus?
Report abuse
Dont forget that nearly 80% of the cost of petrol is in tax. 60% alone is in fuel duty so we pay tax twice for the stuff. Yes the oil companies are raking it in but so is the govenment. Ask yourself this; how come in the states it cost the same for a gallon what we pay for a litre?
Report abuse
Time for the government to cut it’s tax on petrol, scrap the proposed rise of 2p a litre from September.
I am sick of being fleeced by this government so that MP’s and greedy bankers can line their pockets.
Report abuse
The government is laughing all the way to the bank, they are receiving extra duty + extra VAT on every increase by the thieving oil company’s.and do not appear to increase fuel prices only winners the government and the oil company’s, Losers guess who? US again.
Report abuse
It isn’t the motorist who’s getting a poor deal. For decades, public transport fares have gone up above inflation. In 30 years, motoring costs, in real terms, have remained more or less constant. So, instead of whinging about the price of fuel, think about how those on the lowest incomes who rely on public transport have been hit.
Driving is still cheap. Oil production either has or will very soon go into decline. Price of fuel is not going to drop.
If people were really bothered about the cost of fuel going up, they would drive more carefully and slowly to save it, but I don’t see that happening. People are still steaming down the motorway at 90+ and accelerating from lights like maniacs – whilst this is the case fuel is obviously still cheap. MPG increases by a massive amount accelerating carefully and driving at 60 instead of 70,80, or 90 on the motorway.
Report abuse
“RIP OFF BRITAIN”…Ripped off by thieving politicians..ripped off by a prime minister who is idle and weak,who doesnt listen to the citizens of this country..Who lets us be ripped off at the pumps..because it doesnt matter to him!!..If i was on his wages i wouldnt care how much the average man and woman in the street had to pay for fuel…Shame on Mr Brown for crippling this country and bringing us to the edge of dispair!!
Report abuse