Brent crude passes $100 per barrel: comment

"It's all too reminiscent of the oil price surge after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and a stark reminder that the UK has no real control over the price of oil.

"There's been a lot of talk of energy security and North Sea drilling, but the clear lived reality is that won't make these regular price shocks any more affordable for British drivers. Meanwhile the vast majority of drivers of the 1.8m EVs on the UK's roads [2] are set to be much more insulated from the war in the Middle East. The UK is now one of the largest markets for EVs in the world and that combined with the build out of British renewables, will mean drivers increasingly don’t feel these kind of shocks anything like they do at the moment."

According to ECIU analysis of previous oil and petrol prices, oil at $100 a barrel could see petrol prices hit £1.50 a litre. [3] With Qatar suggested it could rise further to $150 a barrel, ECIU analysis has found this could see petrol prices hitting at least £1.90 a litre [4] - prices not seen since the height of the gas crisis in 2022.