# Oil dearer, pump cheaper — and the other way round url: https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/oil-price-vs-pump-price/ updated: 22 September 2026 licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) publisher: Tekstak Ltd [Where your money goes](/) › Road fuel # Oil dearer, pump cheaper — and the other way round Last updated 22 September 2026. Figures refresh every night. [How each figure is worked out](/methodology/). As of 21 September 2026, only **61.5p of the UK's 172.0p litre of petrol is crude oil** — about 36%. 52.95p is fuel duty and 28.7p is VAT, both of which barely move with the oil price, and 28.9p is refining, distribution and the forecourt's margin. That is why a large percentage fall in Brent produces a much smaller percentage fall at the pump. Crude is Brent converted at that week's exchange rate; the pump price is the DESNZ weekly average. Figure as of 21 September 2026. Source: [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices), [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILBRENTEU), [Bank of England](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/). ## What is a litre actually made of? **What a litre of petrol is made of, week by week** **The numbers behind this chart** | Week | Crude | Margin | Duty | VAT | Pump price | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 10 May 2004 | 12.7 | 8.6 | 47.10 | 12.0 | 80.3 | | 4 Oct 2004 | 16.6 | 6.2 | 47.10 | 12.2 | 82.0 | | 28 Mar 2005 | 17.6 | 6.2 | 47.10 | 12.4 | 83.4 | | 15 Aug 2005 | 23.2 | 6.8 | 47.10 | 13.5 | 90.6 | | 2 Jan 2006 | 21.4 | 6.4 | 47.10 | 13.1 | 88.0 | | 22 May 2006 | 22.3 | 12.4 | 47.10 | 14.3 | 96.1 | | 9 Oct 2006 | 20.0 | 6.6 | 47.10 | 12.9 | 86.6 | | 26 Feb 2007 | 19.3 | 6.4 | 48.35 | 13.0 | 87.1 | | 16 Jul 2007 | 24.1 | 9.4 | 48.35 | 14.3 | 96.2 | | 3 Dec 2007 | 26.7 | 10.2 | 50.35 | 15.3 | 102.6 | | 21 Apr 2008 | 35.4 | 6.7 | 50.35 | 16.2 | 108.6 | | 8 Sept 2008 | 36.0 | 9.4 | 50.35 | 16.8 | 112.5 | | 26 Jan 2009 | 21.7 | 2.0 | 52.35 | 11.4 | 87.4 | | 15 Jun 2009 | 26.4 | 8.1 | 54.19 | 13.3 | 102.0 | | 2 Nov 2009 | 29.0 | 8.2 | 56.19 | 14.0 | 107.4 | | 22 Mar 2010 | 32.6 | 10.4 | 56.19 | 17.4 | 116.6 | | 9 Aug 2010 | 32.1 | 9.7 | 57.19 | 17.3 | 116.3 | | 27 Dec 2010 | 38.1 | 8.8 | 58.19 | 18.4 | 123.4 | | 16 May 2011 | 44.1 | 11.7 | 57.95 | 22.7 | 136.4 | | 3 Oct 2011 | 42.1 | 12.5 | 57.95 | 22.5 | 135.0 | | 20 Feb 2012 | 47.8 | 6.9 | 57.95 | 22.5 | 135.2 | | 9 Jul 2012 | 40.5 | 10.8 | 57.95 | 21.8 | 131.1 | | 26 Nov 2012 | 43.3 | 10.8 | 57.95 | 22.4 | 134.4 | | 15 Apr 2013 | 40.8 | 15.5 | 57.95 | 22.9 | 137.1 | | 2 Sept 2013 | 46.9 | 9.5 | 57.95 | 22.9 | 137.1 | | 20 Jan 2014 | 41.4 | 8.5 | 57.95 | 21.6 | 129.4 | | 9 Jun 2014 | 41.4 | 8.7 | 57.95 | 21.6 | 129.7 | | 27 Oct 2014 | 33.4 | 12.9 | 57.95 | 20.9 | 125.1 | | 16 Mar 2015 | 22.1 | 12.5 | 57.95 | 18.5 | 111.0 | | 3 Aug 2015 | 19.9 | 18.9 | 57.95 | 19.4 | 116.1 | | 21 Dec 2015 | 14.9 | 12.4 | 57.95 | 17.1 | 102.3 | | 9 May 2016 | 18.5 | 13.7 | 57.95 | 18.0 | 108.2 | | 26 Sept 2016 | 22.6 | 12.3 | 57.95 | 18.6 | 111.4 | | 13 Feb 2017 | 27.2 | 14.9 | 57.95 | 20.0 | 120.2 | | 3 Jul 2017 | 23.9 | 12.9 | 57.95 | 19.0 | 113.7 | | 20 Nov 2017 | 29.1 | 12.7 | 57.95 | 19.9 | 119.7 | | 9 Apr 2018 | 30.4 | 11.7 | 57.95 | 20.0 | 120.0 | | 27 Aug 2018 | 36.3 | 13.4 | 57.95 | 21.5 | 129.2 | | 14 Jan 2019 | 28.6 | 13.0 | 57.95 | 19.9 | 119.5 | | 3 Jun 2019 | 31.4 | 18.4 | 57.95 | 21.6 | 129.4 | | 21 Oct 2019 | 28.6 | 18.8 | 57.95 | 21.1 | 126.4 | | 9 Mar 2020 | 16.9 | 27.0 | 57.95 | 20.4 | 122.2 | | 27 Jul 2020 | 21.2 | 14.8 | 57.95 | 18.8 | 112.7 | | 14 Dec 2020 | 23.7 | 13.2 | 57.95 | 19.0 | 113.8 | | 3 May 2021 | 30.6 | 16.5 | 57.95 | 21.0 | 126.1 | | 20 Sept 2021 | 33.9 | 20.6 | 57.95 | 22.5 | 134.9 | | 7 Feb 2022 | 45.2 | 18.8 | 57.95 | 24.4 | 146.3 | | 27 Jun 2022 | 61.2 | 45.0 | 52.95 | 31.8 | 190.9 | | 14 Nov 2022 | 50.2 | 33.9 | 52.95 | 27.4 | 164.4 | | 3 Apr 2023 | 43.5 | 24.9 | 52.95 | 24.3 | 145.7 | | 21 Aug 2023 | 42.2 | 29.3 | 52.95 | 24.9 | 149.4 | | 8 Jan 2024 | 37.2 | 26.3 | 52.95 | 23.3 | 139.7 | | 27 May 2024 | 39.0 | 31.1 | 52.95 | 24.6 | 147.7 | | 14 Oct 2024 | 37.8 | 20.8 | 52.95 | 22.3 | 133.9 | | 3 Mar 2025 | 36.1 | 27.3 | 52.95 | 23.3 | 139.6 | | 21 Jul 2025 | 33.5 | 25.3 | 52.95 | 22.4 | 134.1 | | 8 Dec 2025 | 29.9 | 31.0 | 52.95 | 22.8 | 136.7 | | 27 Apr 2026 | 52.8 | 25.0 | 52.95 | 26.2 | 157.0 | | 14 Sept 2026 | 56.6 | 30.6 | 52.95 | 28.0 | 168.1 | | 21 Sept 2026 | 61.5 | 28.9 | 52.95 | 28.7 | 172.0 | Figure as of 21 September 2026. Source: [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices), [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILBRENTEU), [Bank of England](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/). The amber bands are tax. They are close to flat over time for duty, and move with the price for VAT. The blue bands are cost: crude, and the residual that covers refining, shipping, storage, distribution and the forecourt. ## Has oil ever been dearer than today while petrol was cheaper? Yes, and the site checks for it automatically every night. Two versions of the test: one comparing the barrel price in dollars, which is how the oil market quotes it, and one comparing crude converted into pence per litre, which takes the exchange rate out and leaves duty, VAT and the margin to explain the rest. ### Measured in dollars a barrel - 9 June 2008 In June 2008 Brent was $134 against $131 now, yet petrol was 116.9p against 172.0p, 55.1p cheaper: crude adds 18.7p, duty adds 2.6p, VAT adds 11.3p, the refining and retail margin adds 22.6p. Sterling accounts for about 20.4p of the crude difference. ### Measured in pence a litre - 7 March 2022 In March 2022 Brent was 61.8p a litre against 61.5p a litre now, yet petrol was 152.9p against 172.0p, 19.1p cheaper: duty takes off 5.0p, VAT adds 3.2p, the refining and retail margin adds 21.1p. The difference between the two lists is the exchange rate. Brent is priced in dollars, so a weaker pound raises the cost of a litre even when the barrel price has not moved. ## When has the margin run unusually wide? The margin here is a residual: whatever is left after crude, duty and VAT. 157 weeks in the series sit more than 1.5 standard deviations above their own 52-week rolling average. A wide margin has several innocent explanations — refinery outages, the lag between buying a cargo and selling it, and crack spreads that the crude benchmark does not capture — so this flags and measures, and stops there. **The refining and retail margin, week by week** **The numbers behind this chart** | Episode | Weeks | Peak margin | Standard deviations above average | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 3 Aug 2026 to 31 Aug 2026 | 5 | 38.7p | 1.93 | | 1 Jun 2026 to 6 Jul 2026 | 6 | 38.5p | 2.56 | | 17 Nov 2025 to 22 Dec 2025 | 5 | 32.2p | 2.25 | | 13 Oct 2025 to 20 Oct 2025 | 2 | 30.8p | 2.39 | | 27 May 2024 to 3 Jun 2024 | 2 | 32.1p | 1.92 | | 13 Jun 2022 to 15 Aug 2022 | 10 | 45.0p | 3.63 | | 28 Mar 2022 to 25 Apr 2022 | 4 | 34.6p | 3.05 | | 25 Oct 2021 to 3 Jan 2022 | 11 | 30.3p | 3.68 | Figure as of 21 September 2026. Source: [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices), [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILBRENTEU), [Bank of England](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/). ## Do pump prices rise faster than they fall? **Half of a rise in crude reaches the pump in about 2.8 weeks; half of a fall in about 3.0 weeks. On this measure rises and falls reach the pump at much the same speed. In the week of the move itself about 10% of a rise shows up at the pump against about 8% of a fall. Over the full 8-week window a 10p move in crude is associated with about 13p at the pump on the way up and about 11p on the way down. Both exceed 10p because refining and retail costs tend to move with crude as well, so this is the response to a crude move, not the crude cost alone.** Estimated from 1153 weeks of data with an eight-week lag structure, fitting weekly changes in the pump price to the positive and negative parts of weekly changes in crude. The fit explains 61% of the week-to-week variation. This is one specification on national weekly averages, not a finding about any particular retailer. **How a move in crude reaches the pump, week by week** **The numbers behind this chart** | Lag | Crude rising | Crude falling | | --- | --- | --- | | Same week | 0.127 | 0.086 | | 1 week | 0.294 | 0.200 | | 2 weeks | 0.295 | 0.282 | | 3 weeks | 0.126 | 0.293 | | 4 weeks | 0.124 | 0.155 | | 5 weeks | 0.090 | 0.106 | | 6 weeks | 0.080 | 0.033 | | 7 weeks | 0.076 | 0.003 | | 8 weeks | 0.109 | -0.032 | Figure as of 21 September 2026. Source: [Department for Energy Security and Net Zero](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices), [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILBRENTEU), [Bank of England](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/). ## Work out the pump price from the barrel price A barrel is 158.987 litres. Move the sliders to see what a given oil price, exchange rate and margin would mean at the pump. The starting values are the latest actual figures. Brent crude, $ a barrel $131 Pound in dollars $1.337 Refining and retail margin, p a litre 29p 172.0pEstimated pump price 61.5pCrude oil in each litre 81.6pTax per litre 47%Tax share of price Duty of 52.95p and VAT at 20% are applied to whatever you choose. Refiners buy cargoes weeks ahead, so real pump prices lag the oil market. ## How this is worked out Crude is Brent converted at that week’s exchange rate: dollars per barrel divided by 158.987 litres, divided by the pound in dollars, times 100. VAT is the share of the pump price the rate implies, duty is the rate DESNZ publishes for that week, and the margin is whatever is left: refining, shipping, storage, distribution and the forecourt. It is a residual, so anything the Brent benchmark misses, such as biofuel content or refinery timing, lands in it. The full method, including the pass-through regression, is on the [methodology page](/methodology/). ## Common questions How much of the petrol price is the oil price? About 61.5p of a 172.0p litre, or 36%, as of 21 September 2026.Why does petrol not get cheaper when oil falls? Because most of the price is not oil. 52.95p is fixed duty and 28.7p is VAT, so a 10% fall in crude is only about 3.6% off the pump price before anything else changes.Do pump prices rise faster than they fall? Half of a rise in crude reaches the pump in about 2.8 weeks; half of a fall in about 3.0 weeks. On this measure rises and falls reach the pump at much the same speed. In the week of the move itself about 10% of a rise shows up at the pump against about 8% of a fall. Over the full 8-week window a 10p move in crude is associated with about 13p at the pump on the way up and about 11p on the way down. Both exceed 10p because refining and retail costs tend to move with crude as well, so this is the response to a crude move, not the crude cost alone. ## Use this data Everything on this page is published under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). You may republish it, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page. ### Download - [Weekly decomposition of the UK petrol price into crude, margin, duty and VAT (CSV)](/data/litre-decomposition.csv) [JSON](/data/litre-decomposition.json) - [Brent crude daily spot price since 1987 (CSV)](/data/brent.csv) [JSON](/data/brent.json) - [UK average petrol pump price, weekly since 2003 (CSV)](/data/uk-petrol-pump.csv) [JSON](/data/uk-petrol-pump.json) - [All data and field definitions](/data/) ### Embed the live figure Paste this into your page. It updates itself every night and links back here. Embed code ## Sources for this page | Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Weekly road fuel prices](https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/weekly-road-fuel-prices) | Department for Energy Security and Net Zero | 21 September 2026 | weekly | | [Brent crude oil spot price (FRED DCOILBRENTEU)](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DCOILBRENTEU) | Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis | 15 September 2026 | daily | | [Spot exchange rate, US $ into sterling (XUDLUSS)](https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/boeapps/database/) | Bank of England | 21 September 2026 | daily | ## Related questions - [What are UK petrol and diesel prices today?](/uk-fuel-prices/) - [How much tax is in petrol?](/tax-on-petrol/) - [What is the UK fuel duty rate, and how did it get there?](/fuel-duty/) - [When does raising a tax rate stop raising money?](/when-tax-rises-lose-revenue/) ## Share this page - WhatsApp - X - Facebook - LinkedIn - Reddit - Email - ## Related pages - [What are UK petrol and diesel prices today?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/uk-fuel-prices/) - [How much tax is in petrol?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/tax-on-petrol/) - [What is the UK fuel duty rate, and how did it get there?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/fuel-duty/) - [When does raising a tax rate stop raising money?](https://whereyourmoneygoes.co.uk/when-tax-rises-lose-revenue/) ## More from this publisher - [UK tax calculators](https://howlongisit.co.uk) - [Work out your own figure with our UK tax calculators](https://howlongisit.co.uk) Published by Tekstak Ltd under CC BY 4.0. Figures last updated 22 September 2026.