I know we generally pay less for gas over here, but that is expensive. I filled up on Friday (15.9 gallon tank) and it was maybe $3.10 a gallon, first time over $3 in quite a while. Still not far off that price yet, but it's definitely rising and all over the news.
As I understand it, North Sea oil is mainly "light sweet" crude - meaning it has larger fraction of smaller and more valuable hydrocarbons - kerosene, petrol, diesel, naphtha, up to about C12. Fuel oil is essentially the longer chain hydrocarbons that are left when you remove all of that.
Arabian and Persian crude (and indeed Venezuelan crude, close to tar) is much heavier and "sour" so has much higher levels of sulphur. Good for ships and heating - at least, once the sulphur has been removed, because its combustion products are corrosive - but much less good for automobiles and aircraft.
UK petrol is always much much more expensive than US gasoline. Fuel duty is around 50p per litre. VAT, the sales tax, is 20% - so a sixth (20/120) of the pump price. Most companies in the supply chain are paying 25% corporation tax, often more due to the special taxes on production. We are often paying about the same for a litre as they pay for a US gallon (nearly 4 litres).
Posted by Andrew on 10 March, 2026 at 10:17 PM
BW, you can report the rip-off place to the gov for not updating. Not sure what effect it has though....
I know we generally pay less for gas over here, but that is expensive. I filled up on Friday (15.9 gallon tank) and it was maybe $3.10 a gallon, first time over $3 in quite a while. Still not far off that price yet, but it's definitely rising and all over the news.
Posted by Scoakat on 9 March, 2026 at 10:20 PM£1.749 for diesel locally this afternoon.
£1.529 for petrol in the rip-off place (which somehow manages not to report its prices as it should) and £1.399 in the
other.
Still no availability for heating oil in this area.
Posted by Blue Witch on 10 March, 2026 at 7:07 PMAs I understand it, North Sea oil is mainly "light sweet" crude - meaning it has larger fraction of smaller and more valuable hydrocarbons - kerosene, petrol, diesel, naphtha, up to about C12. Fuel oil is essentially the longer chain hydrocarbons that are left when you remove all of that.
Arabian and Persian crude (and indeed Venezuelan crude, close to tar) is much heavier and "sour" so has much higher levels of sulphur. Good for ships and heating - at least, once the sulphur has been removed, because its combustion products are corrosive - but much less good for automobiles and aircraft.
UK petrol is always much much more expensive than US gasoline. Fuel duty is around 50p per litre. VAT, the sales tax, is 20% - so a sixth (20/120) of the pump price. Most companies in the supply chain are paying 25% corporation tax, often more due to the special taxes on production. We are often paying about the same for a litre as they pay for a US gallon (nearly 4 litres).
Posted by Andrew on 10 March, 2026 at 10:17 PMBW, you can report the rip-off place to the gov for not updating. Not sure what effect it has though....
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-an-error-in-fuel-prices-or-forecourt-details
Posted by Sue on 11 March, 2026 at 11:38 AMYou can report rip-off place to govt. Not sure if they get spanked or not though...
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/report-an-error-in-fuel-prices-or-forecourt-details
Posted by Sue on 11 March, 2026 at 11:38 AMBBC News - Heating oil customers see orders cancelled and prices hiked - BBC News
Posted by Joho on 12 March, 2026 at 9:16 AMhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgrz790l8g2o