Petrol price levels highest since 2014

British motorists suffer heightened cost, largely due to Hurricane Harvey

Petrol price levels highest since 2014
Roughly two thirds of what British motorists pay for petrol goes towards tax. Image: Bigstock.

With Hurricane Harvey forcing large refineries in the Gulf Coast to shutdown, the price of a barrel of crude oil has increased to $53 where just two months ago it was below $45, reports the Daily Mail.

The price increase means that for the first time since June 2016, the average price of a litre of unleaded is more than that of diesel, although it is still far less than 2014 where a barrel of crude oil cost over $100.

“One quarter of the refining capacity in the States remains offline leaving a shortfall of over four million barrels a day, and crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is down 13.5 per cent,” said RAC spokesman, Pete Williams.

“Americans are wedded to their petrol engines and while they have been endeavouring to become more self-sufficient through increased fracking, they are now having to buy more unleaded from overseas which is reducing the availability of unleaded for the rest of the world.”

The RAC expect that until the US oil industry is able to get refineries back into production the trend is likely to go on for some time.

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