The cost of petrol and diesel at UK filling stations rose during March, according to the RAC.
The motoring organisation said the average price of a litre of petrol went up by 1.86p during the month, to 146.48p, while the average litre of diesel went up by 1.31p, to 155.99p.
The RAC said that while the increase in prices was driven by a 5% rise in the cost of a barrel of oil (from $83.55 to $87.48) during March, a surge in demand for petrol in the United States ahead of the summer had caused the wholesale price of unleaded to rise to match that of diesel.
It said this meant that by the end of March, a litre of unleaded cost 113.3p on the wholesale market, only a penny or so less than diesel at 114.69p.
The RAC said that If this remained the case, the price gap between the two fuels at the pumps should close from its current 7p in the next few weeks.
RAC spokesman Simon Williams said: “The rising cost of oil, combined with the pound still only being worth a meagre $1.3, has led to another month of misery at the pumps with the price of petrol going up 2p a litre.
“Sadly, this means the average price of petrol has gone up nearly 6p so far this year.”
