Despite small falls in petrol prices last month, the consequence of a supermarket price war according to the AA, motoring becomes ever more expensive. Political campaigns have opened as pressure builds at the pumps; and these campaigns have been co-opted by influential organs such as the Sun.
The government has reacted: taking part in the International Energy Agency’s decision to release reserves onto the market to counter those members of OPEC that connive to sustain high oil prices. The government has also relaxed some of its windfall taxes on companies operating in the North Sea.
However, supply remains uncertain, not least because so much of Europe’s petrol was sourced from Libyan light sweet crude fields, which have ceased to operate at full capacity since civil war erupted. Production has dropped from 1.6 million barrels a day to a little over 100,000 barrels, and Europe accounted for 85 per cent of those supplies.
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