MOTORISTS are being warned to expect another summer of misery at the petrol pumps as the cost of oil spiralled to new highs amid growing international tensions.
Experts said the average cost of a litre of diesel could break the é1 barrier this summer, while unleaded petrol was likely to get "very close".
The warning came as the cost of crude oil hit record levels in both London and New York over fears surrounding the nuclear stand-off between Iran and the West and supply disruptions in Nigeria.
The cost of Brent crude in London hit 72.20 US dollars a barrel, while light sweet crude rose to 70.88 US dollars a barrel in New York. Passengers flying long-haul routes with British Airways were also hit with an increased fuel levy to cover the sky-high oil prices.
British Airways put up its surcharge on tickets from é30 to é35 on a one-way flight - the sixth increase since introducing it in May 2004.
It justified the move on the grounds that its fuel bill for the year beginning this month was now expected to total é2.2 billion. Analysts said oil prices were likely to climb further as long as political risks in Iran and Nigeria posed threats to supply at a time when global demand remains strong and supplies are tight.
Havoc
The previous high of 70.85 US dollars was reached on August 30 last year when Hurricane Katrina lashed at the Gulf Coast of the United States and wreaked havoc on the region's oil industry.
That helped send the average cost of unleaded petrol up to 96.6p a litre in September and diesel up to 98p a litre on this side of the Atlantic.
Petrol Retailers' Association director Ray Holloway said those prices were "in danger of being broken" this summer if the cost of oil remained high and demand for fuel continued to rise in the US for the summer driving season.
"Diesel was 98p a litre and I think it will break é1," he said.
"I don't think petrol will, although it will get very close to it."
On Thursday, the average price of a litre of unleaded was 93.6p a litre, while diesel was 97.08p a litre.
The AA Motoring Trust said the cost of unleaded had been going up by a penny a week for the last three weeks, but may not surpass last summer's high.
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Diesel MAY break 1 a litre? Where I work diesel is already 99.9 ppl so as far as I'm concerned it's already a pound a litre! And before the greenies amongst us crow an increase in fuel affects us ALL through increased prices in the shops....
heh heh, will the petrol retailers invest in making all the price signs an extra didgit wider, me thinks not, so now prices will jump by 10p every time the prices move to allow for the extra digit. Heh get on ur bike my son and lets get sweaty.
I'm delighted petrol will soon be a pound a litre, and I hope it goes up much further. I want my children to be able to play out in the street like I could. I don't give a monkey's about "drivers' rights"!
As an executive worker & employer who already contributes huge amounts of income tax to this countries coffers I believe petrol rationing should be brought in forthwith for non workers & council estates residents who can surely rely on public transport & bicycles for their employment & recreational needs which are surely not as critical to this countries prosperity as my own & similar executives whom to lose their petrol supplies would be a serious national loss in keeping the wheels of commerce & industry turning.
It could be rationed or a surcharge of ??2.00 per gallon added for example to people who drive motor vehicles of 3 years old or older, on certain working class area postcodes where the majority of vehicles are neither M.O.T'd, Road Taxed or Insured or the size of your income, say under ??100,000, all of which must be proved with the relevant documentation to an emergency authority installed by the government in order to keep this countries elite work force on the move should any future fuel shortages or petrol blockades take place, thus enabling the country on a whole to ride out any disruption to our fuel supplies together.
If we took all these unroadworthy vehicles from these council estates & poorer area's where they run around needlessly with no sense of purpose in their jalopies it would free up their time to be more self sufficient by for example turning their unkempt gardens on these estates into vegetable plots to feed themselves, their offspring & also to help to justify their existence on these estates. Instead of driving down to the freezer & tinned sections of supermarkets which in turn forces more H.G.V's onto the roads using more of this valuable fuel just to replenish the freezers for these already mainly obese people to gorge on.
Time to adjust your lifestyle and how much you use your car. This can only be a good thing. After the last price hike, I sold my Jaguar and I now drive a much more economical car. Any journeys under 1 mile are now walked. The kids use public transport and walk to school instead of being chauffeured. We use our bicycles a lot more as a family and as a consequence our lives and our pockets are in a much better state. I have seen the error of my ways with regards to gas-guzzler ownership and I feel better physically and I have hopefully contributed to the quality of life for others too.
Richard Everard, I totally agree with what you say, we have a very precious resource, and it IS being wasted by council estate residents driving round aimlessly in their jalopies, wasting the fuel that someone more far more deserving could have. They should use the buses like you say, to go to the dole office and job centre. How can they afford to have a car anyway? probably by burglary and theft from shops like Aldi and Kwik Save. Furthermore, we the deserving should have government grants to erect high fences around our private houses, to keep these undeserving people out, just in case they want to burgle us to fund their petrol and road tax, and then we can all sleep better in our beds for it.
there,s a lot of sense in what richard everard writes, but in all the run down council estates where i used to live {manchester}it was 99% labour so no chance of it ever happening in blighty, here in thailand if you don,t work you starve ,no asylum seekers ,no unmarried mothers living rent free with there bone idle boyfriends ,no free methadone ,and guess what diesel is still less than 2 quid a gallon ,of course the moral of all this is if we in blighty did,nt have so many parasites living off the backs of taxpayers, fuel would be the same price as thailand .