Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure motorists are charged prices for petrol and diesel which reflect the wholesale oil price.

The Department’s analysis shows that retail prices of petroleum products such as petrol and diesel are primarily driven by the underlying price in the global market of crude oil and by exchange rates. Departmental analysis shows that changes to the price of crude oil feed through to retail prices over the course of 6-7 weeks. The prices are also influenced by a range of other supply and demand factors, including refining capacity, stock levels, logistics and distribution costs and seasonal demand variations.