The UK’s competition watchdog launched a market study into road fuel on Friday to understand how to bring down retail prices of petrol and diesel.
It comes as petrol prices in June saw the biggest monthly hike in 22 years.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the study will give it more detailed insight into the works of every level of the fuel supply chain, including refining, wholesaling, and retailing.
The study was launched as the CMA published a report (pdf) on a month-long review of fuel prices requested by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
The review found that the 5 pence per liter fuel duty cut in March appears to have been passed on to customers, but the main drivers of soaring prices are the increase in crude oil prices and the “refining spread”—the gap between the price of crude oil entering refineries and the wholesale price of petrol and diesel leaving them….