Few, if any of us, can accurately recall the price of a litre of petrol or diesel. Not helped by the fact it varies from petrol station to station.
So why do prices go up and down and can consumers cushion themselves against the vagaries of the industry?
Here’s a simple guide outlining what determines the price of fuel:
- Petrol and Diesel prices are particularly responsive to decisions about output made by OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries which operates as a cartel.
- Like any product, the laws of supply and demand influence prices; and petrol and diesel prices are priced on international markets.
- Exchange rates have an impact. Petrol & Diesel is priced and traded in dollars so if there are movements in the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar, it will cause price fluctuations.
- Natural disasters disrupt production, and political unrest in an oil-producing juggernaut like the Middle East will cause pricing fluctuations.
All very interesting but really what happens thousands of miles away in the Middle East is only part of the story. What happens closer to home is what really drives prices up. Tax is by far the single largest component of the pump price. More than half of the petrol price goes to the Government.
The mark up fuel providers charge covers their cost of transporting fuel to site, other operating costs, technology deployed and investor returns. Margins on fuel are very tight. That’s why many forecourt operators operate shops to recoup back profit. Prices can vary from suburb to suburb, town to town but this is dependent on the level of costs that each site needs to cover. 
At Certa we’ve built a fully automated network of unmanned filling stations. Our site operating costs are lower as a result. And part of our commitment to our customers is to endeavour to always be the cheapest fuel provider around.
