From the gulf to the petrol pump – how you get your oil and why it's so expensive
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What did the UN speech about US military, AI and Iran have to do with global oil prices?
US President Donald Trump returned to the stage at the United Nations yesterday. His lengthy speech touched on issues like the role of the American military, AI, and of course the war in Iran. Take a listen.
But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran? That lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it Ever was before. maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate? The Islamic Republic. And do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy. People and countries again. Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope? of future greatness or generations. But I believe we'll make a deal. Right after the election.
Why has Brent crude dropped below $100 a barrel and what does that mean for the market?
Because it doesn't make sense for them not to.
Stark comments from the US President there, not for the first time, of course, but it's not all bad news. The price of Brent crude has dipped to ninety-eight dollars forty-three cents a barrel, putting the oil benchmark on track for a sixth consecutive day of declines, making this the longest streak of daily declines for Brent since before the Middle East conflict began. But in Ireland, diesel is now selling for as much as two euro twenty a litre at some pumps. Natural is around the two euro mark. So why do prices remain agonizingly high for consumers? I'm joined on the line by Kathleen Brooks, research director with XTB in studio. Uh I'm joined by Chris Reynolds, former head of the Irish Coast Guard Guard and former head of the EU counter piracy mission to Somalia.
You're both very welcome. Thanks a billion for joining us. Kathleen, um Brent the price of Brent going down uh in recent days. What's behind that?
Uh well it's largely because there's been kind of an easing of geopolitical tensions really. Um obviously Iran and the US, they have had these talks on the fringes of the UN meeting. We've also seen that some of the damage that was done to the pipeline, that key pipeline in Saudi Arabia, it's called the East West Pipeline that sends oil uh through the Red Sea, that's actually been um come back on on to production much quicker than expected. So, you know, there's a b uh some geopolitical tensions are easing and then you've also got an easing of um some supply issues as well.
Why are Irish diesel prices still above €2 per litre despite lower Brent prices?
Yeah, uh there's a lot of attention pay I mean we've b on this programme before. We've uh we've talked about when Brent Brent goes above a hundred dollars a barrel. I it's a psychological marker. Why why is it important to consumers here?
I think as you said, that's a psychological level. Uh people like to talk in whole numbers, but it just adds some context to that number. When you've got the oil price, just one barrel of oil in triple figures, it leads to inflation concerns, it leads to a whole range of economic consequences. And I think it just really describes it as being very, very high.
Okay, and uh but consumers uh noticing that the price has gone below that uh those triple figures might be wondering why the price at the petrol pump isn't going down as well.
Oh, absolutely, because the crisis right now actually is in petroleum products rather than oil itself. So we've got kind of a double whammy of issues. Um there's been a massive disruption to, you know, refining capacity globally, obviously in the Middle East, but also in Russia. Um whilst we have uh Western most Western nations have banned um the import of Russian products, um, Russia's actually banned exports of Diesel in the wake of these Ukrainian attacks on their refineries, which just means that Russian customers are now having to scramble and almost compete with Europeans and other Western nations to get diesel. So that's keeping the pressure really, really high. But revive you know refining margins, they've been quite high for a while and they're only rising because Europe's fuel capacity is shrinking massively.
How are global refinery shortages, not crude shortages, driving high pump prices?
So we don't have the capacity. capacity to actually refine enough de oil to create diesel, to create petrol, etc. Um, because of various, you know, th things, including, you know, net zero, um, but also we just haven't we've been we've been closing refineries.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What did the UN speech about US military, AI and Iran have to do with global oil prices?
0:01–0:55
2
Why has Brent crude dropped below $100 a barrel and what does that mean for the market?
0:55–2:21
3
Why are Irish diesel prices still above €2 per litre despite lower Brent prices?
2:21–3:55
4
How are global refinery shortages, not crude shortages, driving high pump prices?
3:55–5:11
5
What are “dark transits” and how do tankers still move oil through the Strait of Hormuz?
5:11–6:12
6
How do Houthis’ control of the Bab El‑Mandeb Strait create a choke point for oil shipments?
6:12–7:08
7
Is there any realistic end in sight for the current oil‑price volatility?
7:08–8:20
8
What are the key takeaways about oil supply chains and future price outlook?
8:20–9:37