BLBG: U.K. Retail Gasoline Rises to Record as Oil Costs Climb, AA Says
U.K. gasoline prices at the pump rose to a record on higher costs for crude used to make the motor fuel, according to the Automobile Association, the country’s largest motoring group.
Gasoline increased to 121.76 pence a liter ($7.30 a gallon) yesterday, the AA said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with a previous record of 121.61 pence on May 12.
“Oil went up from $80 to $85 a barrel to over $90 a barrel,” Luke Bosdet, an AA spokesman, said by phone from Basingstoke in Hampshire, England. The pound weakening against the dollar also contributed to the pump price increase, he said.
Wholesale gasoline prices are traded in dollars a metric ton. A weaker pound will make it more expensive for U.K. retailers to purchase the fuel.
Prices are expected to reach 124 pence a liter after Jan. 1 and Jan. 4 increases in U.K. fuel duty and value-added tax, Bosdet said.
Wholesale gasoline for immediate loading in Europe’s oil- trading hub of Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp surged 13 percent to $839 a ton from Nov. 23 to Dec. 6, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The motor fuel was at $821 today.
Diesel prices at the U.K. pump were 125.73 pence yesterday, compared with 110.17 pence a year ago, the AA said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Nidaa Bakhsh in London at nbakhsh@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net
