The hopes of seeing a drop in fuel at the pump in Europe were dashed over the weekend, following what looked like a breakthrough in the Strait of Hormuz but turned out to be short-lived, causing oil prices to rise again, along with the price of gasoline and diesel.
The markets had cheered on Friday the announcement of a possible reopening of this strategic maritime route, but weekend events reversed the trend and pushed prices higher.
At the time of writing, the U.S. benchmark barrel is up 10% from last Friday’s low, settling around $87, while Brent, the international benchmark, is up 9.5% at around $94.3 per barrel.
The latest Weekly Report on petroleum product prices from the European Commission was released last Thursday, before the latest developments between the United States and Iran, and reported an average price of €1.853 per liter for Euro-super 95 gasoline in the EU.
According to these figures, the average price of diesel stood at €2.099 per liter.
Both of these prices, including taxes, were slightly lower than the previous week, but after the attack on several ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday and the about-face of dozens of others, whose owners deemed it still unsafe to cross, prices are expected to rise again.
Concerns are mounting in the UK, where the president of the Automobile Association, Edmund King, has issued cautious statements.
“For the first time since the start of this conflict, we have seen a significant drop in pump prices at the end of last week, but it looks like a false calm. Global uncertainty is likely to halt the price drop, and if the situation continues, prices will rise again,” King said.
These disruptions are also fueling strong concerns about jet fuel supply.
Last week, the executive director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, stated that Europe may have “perhaps no more than six weeks of jet fuel.”
Context: The article discusses how hopes for a decline in fuel prices in Europe faded due to events in the Strait of Hormuz and the consequent rise in oil prices.
Fact Check: The information on fuel prices and the impact of events in the Strait of Hormuz is accurate and relevant.
