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OPEC fuels fears
Page 8
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• OPEC, the organisation representing oil producing countries, has agreed to cut production which will fuel price hikes, say analysts.
Its ten member countries will cut production by 1.5m barrels a day for six months from 1 January 2002 in a bid to boost flagging crude oil prices.
A spokesman for the Petrol Retailers Association says: In the last week of November 2001 there was a clear discrepancy between the price of unleaded premium petrol, costing on average 69.9p per litre, and ultra low sulphur diesel, which cost 74.9p per litre. Because the petrol price was so low the UK government may raise the price of diesel in a bid to recoup the lost fuel duty."
Simon Chapman, the FTA's chief economist, says: "OPEC are losing control of fuel prices at the moment.
"They control less and less of the world's production and are trying to manage the price in a market which is falling because of the threat of global recession."
However, Chapman adds: Our main concern at the moment is the disparity between the price of petrol and diesel and I have written to all of the oil companies for an explanation, but as yet I have had no response."
The ETA also claims that over the last twelve months the overall fall in diesel prices has been far less in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, with , Britain's prices falling by just 7.2p/lit whilst prices in France fell by 9.9p/lit and those in Denmark by 11.5p/lit.