Brussels Urged By Motoring Groups To Investigate The Cost Of Fuel

Motoring groups across Europe are campaigning for Brussels to investigate the causes of the rise in fuel prices.

The groups want to find out why fuel prices haven't dropped and to investigate whether there has been some market manipulaton on behalf of energy companies and financial speculators.
Whilst there has been a decrease in the cost of a barrel of oil, the cost of fuel has remained costly and the price of diesel is similar to that in April last year when it was at an all time high, meaning that motorists are having to fork out to fill up their vehicles.

According to the AA the current price of diesel is 142.41p, just 0.59p less than those in April 2011, and the cost of petrol currently stands at 134.13p creating a noticeable gap in the price of the two fuels.

Whilst there has been a marked increase in the price of fuel, especially diesel, the price of crude oil has decreased leaving motorists baffled as to why the price of fuel has not coincided with this and also declined. In 2008 the cost of a barrel of crude oil cost around $147 and dropped to $123 in April last year; the price now stands at $111.14.

The AA are one of the organisations that are keen to discuss prices. They want to meet as early as next month and are eager to find a solution in easing the costs for motorists.
 
Spokesperson for the group, Luke Bodset told the Daily Mail: 'Austria and others have retailers who change their prices during the day, Portugal has a semi-monopoly with supply and UK/France have a very strong supermarket presence while German ministers last year urged theirs to start selling fuel.
'In essence, the meeting is a workshop/brainstorm session.'

The reason why petrol prices are now $1200 per metric tonne as they were in 2008 is being questioned by the AA since oil prices are now 10-15% cheaper. However, they say that it is difficult to decipher who is to blame for the rising cost of fuel out of oil companies, refiners, investment banks and other financial speculators.

Speaking to the Guardian, another AA representative commented: 'This is why we need the European commission to investigate. It is unclear – and yet in the US, Australia and south-east Asia, there is published information on all this that makes it easier to see what is happening.'

'Is it the middlemen who are doing the damage here? We have no way of proving it.'

UK drivers are set to be further angered next week when petrol suppliers Shell will be annoucing Q4 profits of almost £3.2billion. Although oil majors are keen to point out that they make the vast amount of their money from 'upstream' oil production as opposed to forecourt sales, they say that the majority of petrol consists of tax from the government.