UK petrol prices hit highest level since Iran war began

Crude oil is a key ingredient in petrol and diesel, which means that higher wholesale costs make filling up a car more expensive. The price of petrol and diesel is also heavily influenced by demand and refining capacity.

Analysts say every $10 (£7.44) per barrel increase in the oil price pushes up pump prices by roughly 7p a litre.

Since the war began, the price of a barrel of Brent crude – the global benchmark for wholesale oil prices – has been very volatile.

Generally speaking, news of further conflict drives the price up while hopes of an end to the war pushes the price down.

Before the conflict, Brent was about $70 a barrel, but the fighting saw it peak at above $120.

In early July, after the framework deal was signed, prices fell back to near the $70 a barrel mark.

When the peace talks collapsed, the price climbed back up again to above $100 a barrel, but are now around $94.

While petrol has hit its highest price since the Iran war began, according to the RAC, diesel remains below the peak of 191.54p a litre it reached on 15 April.

In early July, the RAC said the average price of petrol sank to a low of 150.59p per litre and 164.52p per litre for diesel.

Since then the prices have risen, with petrol now at 163.6p a litre while diesel costs 184.99p a litre.

RAC's head of policy Simon Williams said that, with oil prices remaining elevated, drivers will "almost certainly start paying noticeably more at the pumps in the coming weeks".

Despite the conflict, petrol and diesel prices remain below the levels reached in the summer of 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, when petrol reached 191.5p a litre and diesel hit 199p.

Because transporting oil is a slow process, price movements in the wholesale markets take about a fortnight to show at the pump.

Fuel retailers have denied accusations of price gouging during the conflict. The official markets regulator said it had "not seen evidence of retailers actively changing their pricing strategies to take advantage of the crisis".

A government scheme called Fuel Finder, external lets drivers compare the cost of fuel offered by petrol stations across the UK.

Luke Bosdet, the head of policy at the AA, said the group had been surprised at the speed that prices had fallen and put it down to the scheme.

In May, the then Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said a planned 5p increase in fuel duty due in September would be postponed until the end of December because of the conflict.