UK oil industry drops fuel prices again

The downstream oil industry in the UK has again lowered fuel prices, with unleaded now at its lowest cost per litre since fuel duty rose on April 1st.

Immediately prior to the increase in duty, unleaded stood at 117.28p per litre, but this spiked to 119.29p on the announcement of the 1p increase in taxation.

Prices peaked in mid-May at an average of 121.31p per litre, according to figures from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

But in its latest weekly update, the government body notes the UK oil industry's return to lowering prices after two weeks of higher unleaded costs.

At 117.39p per litre, unleaded is now almost back to its March level - although this still stands around eight pence up over the course of 2010.

Meanwhile, diesel also fell this week to 119.78p per litre, a drop from last week's 120.44p and the first clear decrease in cost since early June.