Petrol prices are heading towards an all-time high according to the RAC, with rising oil prices adding to the recent hike caused by the tanker driver shortage crisis.
The motorists’ organisation said that fuel prices had already risen by £12 for a full tank over the past year but the rising crude price will add even more on top.
The petrol shortage crisis has seen the cost of unleaded rise by 1.5p a litre in September alone, with the price of diesel rising almost 11% over the month.
By Christmas, the RAC is predicting crude to reach US$90 a barrel from US$83 currently which will add even more to the cost of filling up.
Currently, average prices are around 136p a litre for unleaded and 139p for diesel, which compares to the all-time highs seen in April 2012 of 142.48p for petrol and diesel’s record of 147.93p a litre.
If crude prices do hit US$90 per barrel, “we could see the average price of unleaded hit a new record of around 143p per litre,” the RAC said.
“Diesel would shoot up to 145p which is only 3p off the record high of 147.93p in April 2021,” it added.
Motorway prices currently are already above those previous records at around 151.5p for petrol with supermarkets around 4p cheaper than the average, said the RAC.