摘要: |
Geopolitical instability across Europe caused the price of Brent crude, the primary crude oil benchmark for European markets, to skyrocket during the first half of 2022, as sanctions imposed against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine limit exports of oil and refined products, reducing the level of supply available to consumers across Europe. At the start of February in the weeks leading up to the invasion, Brent was trading around $90 per barrel (bbl); four weeks later prices had peaked at $130/bbl on 8 March 2022. In terms of the impact this had on commercial fuel prices in the UK, the national average price of delivered-in diesel, that is the cost of a full 36,000-litre artic load delivered into site, rose from around 90 pence per litre (ppl) in January 2021, to circa 160ppl in March 2022. |