Fuel price set to rise again

Drivers are being warned that fuel prices will rise steeply in the next six weeks, as refineries struggle to provide enough oil to meet demand.

A Europe-wide shortage of capacity at refineries was further exacerbated by the recent strike at the Grangemouth refinery in Scotland and a fire at a Finnish plant.

The warning came after The Office for National Statistics reported that the price of petrol products leaving refineries had risen by 2.3% in a month.

Last week, Goldman Sachs, a US investment bank, said that oil prices threaten to hit $200 a barrel over coming months as producers struggled to keep pace with demand from China and the Middle East.

That would represent a rise of more than 60% from the current level of $125 a barrel.