Despite record prices at the pumps today, wholesale prices have fallenpublished at 12:42 BST
12:42 BST
Mitchell Labiak
Business reporter
Despite the concern around what US President Donald Trump’s
diesel export ban might mean for prices at the pump – both in the UK and
everywhere else – the wholesale cost of oil and diesel has fallen today.
The global benchmark oil price has fallen by almost 2%, while
the European benchmark diesel price has dropped around 6%.
The pump price tracks the wholesale price. However, there is
a lag of about two weeks because transporting oil is a slow process.
The wholesale cost is dropping following a rise in the amount of wholesale oil
being shipped from the Middle East as tensions around the US-Israel war with
Iran ease slightly.
The possibility of the EU releasing some of its oil
reserves in response to Trump’s threats has also helped push down prices.
Here in the UK, average diesel pump prices have breached the
£2 mark for the first time ever because forecourts are selling oil they paid
for weeks ago when wholesale prices were up.
What does not appear to have yet to be factored into the
wholesale price, or the pump price, is the potential US diesel ban itself.
The wholesale price has not moved dramatically since Trump
started discussing the idea.
If the ban becomes reality, though, expect that to change.