The year in review - what happened to fuel prices in 2022

Here we are again, a brand new year. A time for ambition, energy, and putting new plans into action. It’s also a time for reflection, to look back at the year that’s just gone, looking for lessons that can be learned. 

Now, it’s not unfair to say that for the last few years, not many of us have looked back at the year gone by with particularly rose-tinted glasses. World events have been volatile, and unfortunately that was an overall trend that continued into 2022. This has been notably encapsulated in the price of fuel, which has undergone several dramatic shifts in the past two years. 

Those peaks and troughs look set to continue for the time being, which makes it well worth securing your own fleet’s fuel with our innovative products here at TankSafe – such as TankSafe Optimum, the only product with the ability to make your vehicles 100% immune to fuel siphoning. 

But before we look ahead into the rest of 2023, let’s take a quick look back at some of the major events of 2022 – specifically, those which had the biggest impact on fuel prices.  

The Russian invasion of Ukraine

On the 24th of February, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Though it was characterised in Moscow as a ‘special military operation’, the rest of the world rightly saw it as an unprovoked attack by Russia – the second largest oil producer in the world. As a result, countries across the world sought to cut their dependence on Russian oil, leading to shockwaves in the market that sent fuel prices soaring to new highs.

It's worth noting that the cost of crude oil is one of the most influential factors on the cost of fuel, and that oil prices were rising globally even before Russia launched its invasion. In January, the price of crude oil was already at $79 per barrel, but that had risen to $92 by the end of the month. It was over $100 in the days immediately following the invasion, and prices fluctuated from then on. Prices have settled a bit more in recent months, and European gas prices in particular have now fallen to pre-war levels. 

The UK fuel duty cut

In his Spring Statement, then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak lowered the fuel duty by 5p a litre, as part of a package of new measures which included raising the threshold at which workers would start paying national insurance. (The threshold was raised by £3000 a year.) The idea was that the fuel duty cut would provide a bit of immediate relief for struggling families, whereas the national insurance threshold increase would provide benefits over a more long-term period.

When it comes to how effective it was… well, if you’ll pardon the pun, your mileage may vary. There are still sharply split opinions on how much the fuel duty cut did indeed help everyday motorists. Lots of people, including prominent MPs like Sadiq Khan and Rachel Reeves, felt that the measures didn’t nearly go far enough. Notably, there was plenty of support for alternative ideas like a windfall tax, or scrapping the National Insurance tax rise, but ultimately these weren’t put forward by the Chancellor. 

Prices peak in summer 2022

Fuel prices continued their meteoric rise following Russia’s invasion, and peaked in July 2022. The average cost of petrol hit 191.53p per litre, while diesel reached 199.05p – less than 1p short of £2 per litre. 

It marked a new record in dramatically changing fuel prices over the past two years. At the start of 2020 for example, average petrol prices were 127.5p, and diesel was at 132.19p. 

And then when the scale of the Covid-19 spread became apparent to the world a few weeks later, the national lockdowns began. That led to fewer people on the road, and fewer people using petrol and diesel. Prices plummeted accordingly, dipping to a four-year low in May 2020 – petrol became around 106p per litre, and diesel just 6p more expensive. 

Compare 2022’s 106p and 112p figures with the peak prices of 191.53p and 199.05p just over two years later, and it provides a very clear indication of the sheer scale of the changes. And while the market factors have settled somewhat following the onset of Covid a few years ago, there’s no doubt that its aftershocks continued to have an influential effect on the general state of the world economy in 2022 – especially with cases now rising once again in China in 2023.

Rises in fuel crimes in 2022 

Trends in criminal activity are very complex in lots of ways – there’s lots of statistical analysis involved – but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that there were two particularly key factors driving the rise in fuel crimes in 2022. Namely, the rising fuel prices meant that many everyday drivers were getting desperate, and other less scrupulous individuals saw the rises as new opportunities to make a lot of money. 

According to a Freedom of Information request by NationalWorld, a UK-based press organisation, English and Welsh police forces recorded a 79% increase in petrol and diesel thefts over the past two years. The 25 forces that responded to the FOI request revealed a significant leap in numbers; from 1156 in June 2020 to 2065 in June 2022. Only one didn’t record a rise.

On a related note, in December 2022 there were also reports that the UK farming community also suffered a huge increased in on-site diesel theft, which more than doubled in cost and frequency in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. 

Where are we now?

The latest average fuel prices as of 19th December 2021 were 152.96p for petrol, and 175.75p for diesel, as stated by the RAC. That means they’re levelling out a little bit, but the RAC has now warned that diesel prices are likely to rise again after key oil producer OPEC+ announced that it would be cutting down its oil production by 2 million barrels a day. That could see diesel prices alone going back up to 190p per litre. 

There’s also the potential rise in fuel duty that could be on the way in a couple of months’ time. Whatever the case, you can be sure that the instability isn’t going away anytime soon. That means the fuel in your fleet’s vehicles will probably remain very valuable, and therefore a major target – either for external thieves, or for our own employees who may be tempted to skim a little off the top.

That’s where we can help here at TankSafe, with a range of products specifically designed to protect your fuel – and your bottom line. Our TankSafe Optimum is an antisiphon device which we’ve specifically designed to provide 100% protection, so you can have peace of mind against fuel spills, overfilling, and skimming. You can find out more on its dedicated page on our website, or find out answers to some of the most common questions over on our FAQs page. If you’ve still got queries, our experts will be happy to resolve them - fee free to give us a quick call on 01253 400 401, and we’ll be happy to help however we can!