Oil price drops - what it could mean for drivers

Reacting to a sudden drop in the global oil price, RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said:

“The sudden $10 drop in the price of a barrel of oil in the space of just a week should soon bring some welcome relief to drivers at the pumps. The biggest retailers will no doubt be buying new supply at much lower wholesale prices due to the fact they get through the most fuel. It remains to be seen, however, whether they will then do the right thing and pass on the savings they’re benefitting from to drivers on their forecourts up and down the country.

“This will be a very interesting test in fuel pricing transparency and one which the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will be paying close attention to, especially as wholesale petrol prices have been meriting reductions at the pumps for several weeks already. If the retail market is working as it should be, the price of petrol ought to fall by at least 7p in the next week.

“While lots of retailers are now voluntarily publishing their sites’ fuel prices at the request of the Energy Secretary following the CMA’s report in early July, we need the Government to act on the CMA’s other key recommendation: the creation of a price monitoring body. This is what’s truly needed to ensure retailers’ forecourt prices mirror what’s happening on the wholesale market so drivers get a fair deal.”