PEAK OIL

BBC: Oil boom sparks fuel price surge

UK petrol prices could soon rise to levels not seen since the autumn of 2000, when widespread protests caused fuel shortages

Fuel prices have been pushed higher by rising crude prices, which last week hit their highest level in 13 years.

And there could be worse to come, Ray Holloway, head of the Petrol Retailers Association, said.

"We'll see [prices] going up again as soon as this week," Mr Holloway said.

The cartel of oil producing countries, Opec, does not accept blame for the high crude oil prices - even though it decided to cut output at a meeting in Algiers last month.

"I am convinced there are two reasons for such a high price: the reduced quantity of petrol in America, and speculators who are convinced there is going to be a lack of crude," said Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.