Petrol costs soar with price of €1.96 a litre seen in Cork

Pumps.ie, a site where people can report and track petrol costs, cites a cost of 196.9c in Blarney.

The cost of petrol has been soaring in recent weeks with one forum suggesting prices have hit more than €1.96 a litre in Cork.

Pumps.ie, a site where people can report and track petrol costs, cites a cost of 196.9c in Blarney.

It is believed to be among the highest prices in Ireland.

In Carrigrohane, near Ballincollig, a price of 194.9c have been reported, while in Dublin, the price of premium petrol has already topped €2 per litre in some forecourts.

Waterford has also seen high costs with prices at 193.9c a litre seen at two service stations.

Recent analysis by the AA in mid-February put the average cost of a litre of petrol at 177.3c and diesel at 167.7c, meaning it has risen yet further already this year.

Since that study, prices have gone up again in Ireland, according to spokesperson Anna Cullen.

“We predicted [petrol] would reach €2,” she said. “It’s already hit that €1.80 mark. It’s very worrying.

“If the cost of filling your car [was] at €100 per tank, it would be around €2,428 for the average motorist a year. That’s an increase of almost €600 in the last year.” 

Ms Cullen said that every 10c increase at the pump adds €120 to the annual cost of filling your car.

Applegreen has already warned customers of increases in the cost of fuel.

It was reported over the weekend that the retailer told fuel card customers that prices will "rise substantially" from March 5.

Meanwhile, the Tánaiste said on Friday that the Government will make an intervention on fuel prices before the October Budget.

Leo Varadkar said consumers need further help with the cost of living.

"The war in Ukraine has made it worse and I think it will cause energy prices to go higher and stay higher for longer. We're going to examine ways in which we can respond.

"We're not going to do anything immediately. We want to wait for a European Commission paper on this before we make a decision because we want to make sure that whatever we do ... governments act in concert.

"I think there can be no doubt that it is affecting everyone. Obviously, for motorists seeing the increase in petrol and diesel over the last couple of months, for householders seeing an increase in oil, gas and electricity bills and also for business as well."

On Friday, crude oil reached its highest since 2014 and the price of European gas for delivery this summer hit a new record.