Diesel now at its highest in Northern Ireland since Iran war began

The price of diesel is now at its highest level in Northern Ireland since the Iran war began, and now stands at 199.9p per litre in parts.

That price was encountered by the Consumer Council in its weekly survey of forecourt costs across the towns and cities of the Province.

placeholder image — A customer re-fuels his cars at a petrol station as diesel brushes close to £2 per litre in Northern Ireland (photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

It was found at an unnamed station in Armagh City.

Plenty of other locations were giving not dissimilar prices: 197.9ppl at a station in Belfast, 195.9ppl at stations in Carrickfergus, Craigavon and Enniskillen.

Averaging out across the whole of Northern Ireland, the price of diesel now stands at 189.9ppl – up 4.3p on the week before, and 1.8p more expensive than it was in mid-April: its previous high point.

Petrol has continued its upward surge too.

It has been hitting new post-war highs every week for the last five weeks, and now stands at an average of 166ppl, which is 1.9p higher than it was the week before.

The website Boilerjuice.com keeps a tally of red diesel prices in Northern Ireland.

Today, it stands at 115.98ppl (excluding VAT).

That is down 139ppl 10 days earlier, but still far higher than roughly 94ppl, where it had been sitting before the September spike.

Internationally, the price of a barrel of crude oil had sunk down to about $70 per barrel by July, after shooting up due to the war.

At time of writing it stands at about $105 per barrel.

Perhaps unusually, given the ballooning pump prices, the price of home heating oil actually fell marginally over the last week.

The price of 900 litres fell from £1,007 to £997

The cost of 500 litres meanwhile fell from £570 to £562, and 300 litres went from £353 to £347.

In a meeting on Thursday, foreign secretary Ed Miliband pressed Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi about the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

In a face-to-face meeting, Mr Miliband also said that Britain will “not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on UK soil” from groups linked to his country.

Mr Miliband met his Iranian counterpart in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Foreign Office said the pair discussed the UK’s “unwavering resolve to combat threats from Iranian-linked groups in UK soil”.

In a readout from the meeting, the department said: “The Foreign Secretary told Araghchi that Iran should choose de-escalation and diplomacy instead of prolonging the war.

“He underlined the importance of restoring freedom of navigation and the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, stressing the impact continued disruption has on global security and economic stability.

“The Foreign Secretary reiterated the UK’s unwavering resolve to combat threats from Iranian-linked groups in UK soil, including attacks on the British Jewish community.

“The Foreign Secretary made clear that Britain will not tolerate intimidation, threats or hostile activity on UK soil and set out the measures the Government has taken in response.”

Meanwhile at his own meeting with Xi Jinping at the White House, China has resisted Donald Trump’s urgings – and economic threats – to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to US terms to end the nearly seven-month war.

Mr Xi wants to see Mr Trump permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips.