Supermarkets rush to raise fuel prices as pumps run dry amid fears of panic buying

Fuel prices have risen again just 24 hours after one of Britain’s biggest refineries went bust, stopping supplies to filling stations. There are fears of panic buying after long queues formed outside several filling stations in the South East yesterday as diesel pumps ran dry.

Supermarkets – which usually set the trend – have put up to 1p a litre on the price of diesel and unleaded.

On average across the UK, diesel rose to 142.32p (from 142.21p) per litre and is now within a fraction of a new record. Petrol rose to 134.03p per litre (from 133.89p), the AA reported.

Tesco said it had increased its prices by 1p per litre on Monday – the second such rise in a fortnight. It said the rises were down to the increasing wholesale cost of fuel and came before the shutdown at the Coryton refinery.

But data used by petrol retailers showed Sainsbury, Esso and BP have all raised their prices by varying amounts this week.

And more hikes are in the pipeline, with petrol retailers and motoring groups warning: ‘The only way is up.’ The closure of the Coryton refinery in Essex was announced on Tuesday as Swiss parent company Petroplus went into receivership.

The shock closure, which put 1,000 jobs at risk, hit supplies to filling stations in the South East, where Coryton provides 20 per cent of the total fuel, 10 per cent of the UK’s demand.

Motoring groups have warned ‘profiteering’ speculators will seize on the restricted supply to drive up the wholesale cost of petrol and diesel, pushing up prices at the pumps.

Coryton’s administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers confirmed no fuel supplies left the refinery yesterday, but production is continuing with refined fuel being stored on site.

The administrators and Revenue and Customs both denied supplies were being held up because of concerns that duty and VAT may not be paid on each 44,000 litre tanker leaving the site.

Insiders pointed instead to a ‘bureaucratic hiccup’ in the legal terms of the administration which was preventing the refinery from continuing to trade. Russ Ball, regional industrial organiser for the Unite union, said: ‘They are looking to resume supplies in the near future, hopefully within 48 hours.’

Government officials insist gaps in supply are being met by other refineries in the UK and abroad and have urged motorists not to panic.

Industry experts predict diesel prices are set to soar by up to 3p, to a record £1.45 a litre. This would see the cost of filling a family saloon with a 70-litre tank hit £100.

Record fuel prices were set in May last year when diesel rose to 143.04p and petrol 137.43p.

Instability in Iran and threats to blockade key oil routes in the Gulf’s Strait of Hormuz, coupled with the strong dollar, is also storing up trouble, retailers warned.

AA president Edmund King said: ‘There is no doubt the loss of supplies from a major UK refinery, plus the problems in Iran, is going to give the speculators a field day.

‘When they speculate, the only way is up as far as  fuel prices are concerned. Motorists are going to have to get used to seeing prices creeping up.’