Petrol and EV charging prices set to rise amid Iran conflict
The price of a barrel of oil has reached more than $84, while gas prices have seen a similar spike
Petrol and even electric car charging prices have the potential to climb sharply amid the ongoing conflict in Iran and the wider Middle East. The price of oil and gas has risen substantially over the past few days, and experts are predicting that this will eventually be felt at UK fuel pumps and home wallboxes.
On Wednesday morning, the price of Brent crude oil – the type typically used for the manufacture of petrol – rose to more than $84 per barrel. This is the highest it’s been since last June when the US dropped its so-called ‘bunker-buster’ bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Similarly, the price for gas in the UK surged to its highest point in three years, to well over £1.44 per therm. This is largely down to Qatar halting its exports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) after Iran threatened to attack any tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
All of this will see filling up at the pumps and plugs get quite a bit more expensive. The RAC’s head of policy, Simon Williams, said: “Even though the price of dated Brent crude rose by $5 a barrel on Monday to $78, the impact of this shouldn’t be felt for over a week.
“Knowing the tendency for price increases to be passed on far more quickly than cuts, on behalf of drivers we urge retailers not to put up the price of fuel they’ve already got in forecourt tanks and reflect any increases in wholesale fuel fairly on the forecourt.”
At the same time, a rise in LNG prices could see energy prices rise – but not in the immediate future. The energy price cap has already been set for the three months from April, at 5.74p per kWh for gas and 24.67p per kWh for electricity. This could rise significantly from July as suppliers contend with spiralling wholesale costs and thus make charging an EV at home or using public infrastructure more expensive.
But it is worth noting that even as the conflict in the Middle East rages on, the price of oil and gas remains well below the highs seen during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the start of Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in February 2022, the cost of oil, for example, soared to $114 per barrel, rising a few months later to a peak of $119. This pushed the price of petrol paid by UK motorists up to 191 pence per litre, costing drivers an eye-watering average of £31 extra per fill-up compared with pre-conflict prices.
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