Motorists face 5c fuel hike as surge in oil price bites

IRISH motorists could be paying around 5c more for their petrol by the end of this week, as the rise in crude oil prices begins to bite.

Topaz Energy — which operates the Statoil and Shell petrol station brands here — warned yesterday that motorists could expect to pay around €1.20 per litre of petrol at the pumps by as early as the end of this week.

This is up from October’s average price of €1.15 per litre (the Government’s fuel levy increase to 1c per litre which became effective at the beginning of this month has also upped prices).

The company, which runs approximately 340 service stations around the country split between both brands, said that things had got to the stage where rising oil prices had to be passed on to the consumer.

“While price increases for the consumer are, of course, regrettable, in the face of the 40% crude oil increase since mid-August, the decision became unavoidable,” said Topaz chief executive Danny Murray yesterday.

“The high price of crude oil itself is impacted by a number of factors that have been extensively reported — most notably market sensitivity to developments in Middle Eastern diplomacy, tighter supplies coupled with increasing demand from emerging economies, a weak dollar and an inflow of money into commodities,” he added.

Mr Murray said that Irish consumers have been “shielded” from the effects of rising global oil prices so far — mainly by the weakening of the US dollar. “We estimate that motorists would be paying between 6% and 7.5% more at the pump for a litre of unleaded petrol or diesel if the dollar had remained unchanged over the last number of months,” he commented.

Topaz also said it was “very possible” that further price increases could materialise in the coming months. The cost of home heating oil is also likely to be affected.