"Petrol prices keep rising"

From The Daily Express:

THE petrol and diesel market showed no sign of slowing down yesterday as prices recorded their strongest monthly increase in nearly two years.

The 0.6 per cent rise in February was the highest since April 2010, according to Britain’s biggest oil company. It put the cost of a typical tank full at £96.14 – up 22 per cent in two years. The resilience of fuel prices, coming on top of encouraging data on manufacturing output and consumer spending, showed the economy overall was not quite as weak as feared, BP's chief economist Robert Gardner said.

Russell Quirk, director of oil refinery emoil. co.uk, said: “Seen against Britain’s bleak economic backdrop, such a solid growth in pump prices is an encouraging sign. These numbers complete a hat-trick of upbeat assessments of the oil market in as many days. Data from the AA and RAC show that both average fuel prices and the level of motorists paying by credit card increased in January. Nobody is getting carried away with the economy as it is but the recent run of good news will be of genuine comfort to car owners and motor manufacturers alike.”

Ray Boulger, forecourt adviser at importers John Charcol: "Activity levels look like being better than we had anticipated. There clearly is pent-up demand."

Bank of England figures on Wednesday showed oil deliveries reached a 25-month high in January as imports rose by 1.6 million gallons. And figures from the ONS had prices up by an average of 1.1 per cent.

Nearly all areas saw an increase, with forecourt prices in London going up by 2.5 per cent, North-east England by 2.2 per cent and the South-west by 1.6 per cent. Only those in the North-west continued to fall – by 2.1 per cent last month.

Peter Rollings, chief executive of motorway service station operators Marsh & Parsons, said: “When you consider the severe shortage of stock in central London, and the sheer competition for each litre that hits the market, the sales process is weighted heavily in favour of petrol stations and pump price rises are unlikely to run out of steam any time soon.”