Petrol Hits 158.8p a Litre as Middle East Conflict Drives Pump Prices to a Two Year High

Filling up has become painful again. The average price of unleaded petrol across the UK reached 158.8p a litre in the week to 25 May, with diesel sitting at 185.1p, leaving pump prices at their highest level in more than two years. For a driver with a typical 55 litre tank, a brim of petrol now costs close to £87, and a diesel fill is comfortably past £100. After a long spell of relative calm at the forecourt, the cost of motoring has lurched upwards once more, and the reason lies thousands of miles away.

The weekly movement tells its own story. Unleaded climbed by 1.39p compared with the previous seven days, while diesel eased back slightly by 1.49p, a sign that the market is volatile rather than settling. Drivers who remember petrol dipping below 140p last year are now budgeting for journeys that cost a fifth more, and for households that depend on a car for the school run, the commute or work, the difference adds up quickly over a month.

How far prices have climbed

To put the current numbers in context, petrol averaging 158.8p is around 20p a litre dearer than the supermarket forecourt prices many drivers were paying through the quieter months of last year. On a 55 litre fill that 20p gap works out at roughly £11 extra every single time you visit the pump. A two car family filling up three or four times a month between them can easily find themselves £80 to £130 worse off than they were a year ago, before a single other bill is taken into account.

Diesel drivers are feeling it more keenly still. At 185.1p the gap between diesel and petrol has widened again, which is awkward for the many van drivers, tradespeople and high mileage motorway users who rely on diesel and cannot simply cut back on the miles they cover. For a small business running a couple of vans, a sustained rise of this size translates into hundreds of pounds a month in additional fuel costs that either eat into margins or get passed on to customers.

Why the Middle East conflict is hitting the forecourt

The driving force behind the latest spike is the conflict in the Middle East that began on 28 February. The fighting has disrupted the flow of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s energy supply. When traders fear that supply through such a vital route could be choked off, the price of crude oil rises, and because the UK imports the bulk of its fuel, that increase feeds through to the wholesale market and eventually to the price on the forecourt sign.

There is usually a lag of a week or two between movements in the oil price and changes at the pump, which is why prices have continued to climb even during periods when crude has steadied. Retailers tend to pass on increases quickly and reductions more slowly, a pattern the RAC and other motoring groups have criticised for years. The result is that drivers are exposed to the full force of a price rise almost immediately, but have to wait for any relief.

It is also worth remembering that the pump price is not all fuel. A large slice is tax. Fuel duty and VAT together make up well over half the cost of a litre, which means that when the underlying product gets more expensive, the VAT element rises too, quietly handing the Treasury more revenue at the same time as drivers are squeezed.

The fuel duty question

One piece of better news is that fuel duty itself is not going up for now. The rate is frozen at 52.95p a litre, which includes the temporary 5p cut that has been in place since 2022. That cut had been due to end and the duty to rise from the end of August, but the freeze has been extended to hold the rate at its current level until at least December. For a driver covering 10,000 miles a year, keeping the 5p reduction in place is worth somewhere in the region of £25 to £30 over twelve months.

Motoring groups are pressing the government to go further and introduce an emergency duty cut in response to the conflict driven price rises, but so far there is no sign of one. With the Treasury relying heavily on fuel revenue, drivers should plan on the basis that the current freeze is the limit of the help on offer and that prices at the pump will track the oil market rather than any further tax relief.

How to cut what you pay at the pump

The single biggest saving comes from where you fill up. Since February, all fuel retailers have had to report their prices within 30 minutes under the government’s Fuel Finder scheme, which feeds live data to comparison apps. Prices can vary by 20p or more a litre between nearby stations, so checking an app such as PetrolPrices or the data behind Fuel Finder before you drive in can save real money. Supermarket forecourts are usually among the cheapest, while motorway services are reliably the most expensive, often charging well over 170p for unleaded.

How you drive makes a difference too. Easing off the accelerator, reading the road ahead so you brake less, and keeping to steady speeds on the motorway all cut consumption. Removing roof bars and unnecessary weight, keeping tyres correctly inflated and not running with a near empty tank that encourages panic buying at the first station you see can each trim a few percent off your fuel bill. None of these is dramatic on its own, but together they add up over a year.

If you are due to change cars, the current prices sharpen the case for a more efficient model, and for some drivers an electric or hybrid car will look more attractive while petrol and diesel sit this high. For most people, though, the realistic gains come from shopping around for fuel and driving a little more gently rather than switching vehicle overnight.

What to do

Check a fuel price app before filling up and favour supermarket forecourts over motorway services. Avoid topping up on the motorway unless you have to. Keep tyres inflated, lighten the load and drive smoothly to stretch every tank further. Budget for prices staying high while the Middle East conflict continues, and do not count on an emergency duty cut. The duty freeze at 52.95p is confirmed only until December, so keep an eye on the autumn statement for what happens next. For more on keeping running costs down, see our guide to tyre safety and the hidden costs of worn rubber.

The annual picture is the one that really bites. A driver covering the national average of around 7,000 miles a year in a petrol car that returns 40 miles to the gallon burns roughly 800 litres of fuel over twelve months. At 158.8p that is close to £1,270 a year just in petrol, and every 10p added to the pump price lifts that bill by about £80. High mileage drivers covering 15,000 or 20,000 miles see those figures double or treble, which is why hauliers, delivery firms and rural commuters who have no realistic alternative to the car are the hardest hit by a spike of this kind. It also explains why fuel prices feed quickly into the wider cost of living, pushing up the price of food and goods that have to be moved by road.

Sources:

• RAC Fuel Watch: Latest UK petrol and diesel prices
• PetrolPrices.co.uk: UK Fuel Price Index
• Save at the Pump: UK fuel price forecast May 2026
• Carwow: Spring Statement 2026 and fuel duty