Petrol Could Soon Be Cheaper Than Bottled Water

It's time to start dusting off your V8s. The price of oil has been diving recently, with savings passed on to drivers at the pumps... if it carries on at the current rate, it won't be long before a litre of petrol costs less than a litre of bottled water

Darren Cassey

Updated: 14 Jan 2016

Petrol Could Soon Be Cheaper Than Bottled Water

Petrol prices have been tough on drivers over the past few years. In the UK at least, refilling your car had become prohibitively expensive for many who enjoy the kind of cars that upset Greenpeace. But it could be time to fire up your poor, neglected performance car, because the price of petrol is continuing to drop. In fact, plummet might be a more accurate description.

According to a report by the RAC motoring group, the price of petrol at the pump could drop to around 86p per litre, which would be less than a litre of bottled water costs at most supermarkets. It’s all because the cost of Brent crude oil has dropped to $30 a barrel - the lowest since 2004, and 73 per cent lower than its high last year - and is expected to continue to fall to just $10.

The declining cost of Brent crude oil over the last month, via Bloomberg

The cause of the drop in the price of oil is attributed to the fact that the USA’s stockpiles are ridiculously high, driving down demand. According to The Telegraph:

The US Energy Information Administration said its gasoline stockpiles grew by another 8.4m barrels in the week to January 8, higher than analyst expectations of 1.6m.