Petrol and diesel prices as oil falls 6% on Iran diplomacy

Pump prices kept edging down this week, and the oil market has just given drivers a reason to hope the drift continues. Brent crude fell more than 6% on Monday morning as diplomatic efforts around the Iran war gathered pace. That came after a week in which oil had climbed to its highest close since March.

On FuelWise's figures for 27 October, the average price of E10 unleaded across 6,850 UK forecourts is 173.0p a litre, down 1.1p in seven days and 1.5p in 30 days. Standard diesel averages 198.8p across 6,748 forecourts, down only 0.4p in a week and 1.1p in a month.

What changed at the pumps

Most price changes this week were cuts. In the seven days to this morning, FuelWise recorded 8,372 price changes at 4,072 forecourts. Of those, 6,785 were cuts and 1,587 were rises, so about four in five moves went down.

That carried on overnight. In the last 24 hours, 1,435 forecourts changed their prices 1,919 times: 1,672 cuts and 247 rises. The UK averages stayed level on the day for all four fuels, because the cuts are small and spread thinly.

Here is how the main fuels stand:

• E10 petrol: 173.0p average, down 1.1p in a week (petrol prices)
• Standard diesel: 198.8p average, down 0.4p in a week (diesel prices)
• E5 super unleaded: 190.8p average, down 0.6p in a week and 3.1p in 30 days
• Premium diesel: 218.4p average, down 0.1p in a week but up 0.4p over 30 days

Diesel is still the slow mover. The gap between the average litre of standard diesel and E10 is now about 25.8p. On a 55-litre fill, that is roughly £14 more for diesel. Our latest weekly Price Pulse found petrol fell 0.9p and diesel fell 0.3p in the week to 25 October, so the pattern has held into this week.

Why oil fell on Monday

According to Euronews, Brent fell from about $117.4 a barrel at Friday's close to around $110 on Monday morning. US crude (West Texas Intermediate) fell about 2% to $101.5.

Friday's close was Brent's highest since 19 March. It was only about 2% below the $119.5 peak reached in early March, when the Iran war began. Before the war, Brent was trading at around $72.

Euronews said oil had risen sharply the week before after Yemen's Houthi rebels, an armed group aligned with Iran, attacked airports and energy sites in Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter. The mood changed over the weekend. Qatari mediators reportedly travelled to Tehran on Sunday in coordination with Washington. Saudi Arabia's defence minister, Pakistan's army chief and Turkey's intelligence chief were due in the Iranian capital on Monday for regional security talks.

US President Donald Trump, speaking to Fox News on Sunday, described his options as "do I make a deal with them, or do I finish them off?"

The risks to supply have not gone away. Euronews reported that the Houthis said they hit Saudi airports and energy sites again over the weekend, and that Riyadh reported shooting down more missiles and drones.

The Strait of Hormuz and Gulf supply

The Strait of Hormuz carried about a fifth of the world's oil before the war. Euronews, citing ship-tracking firm Kpler, reported that Gulf crude exports excluding Iran returned to pre-war levels in September. However, around 40% of those exports now go around the strait by pipeline, compared with 17% before the conflict.

For UK drivers, the chain works like this. Oil is priced in dollars on world markets. When traders expect less supply from the Gulf, crude rises, refiners and wholesalers pay more, and in time forecourts pass that on. When fears ease, as they did on Monday, the pressure goes the other way. Monday's fall is too recent to judge its effect on the averages above, and Brent has moved sharply in both directions within a week.

Fuel duty: what the Budget has to decide

The other big factor is tax. The temporary 5p a litre cut in fuel duty, first introduced in March 2022, has been extended until 31 December 2026, according to a GOV.UK policy paper published on 22 May 2026. Duty on petrol and diesel is currently 52.95p a litre.

Under the default in the law, that paper says, rates go back to the levels set at Budget 2025 from 1 January 2027. That would be 55.95p a litre, a rise of 3p, followed by 57.95p from 1 March 2027. The government said it would confirm the final rates at Budget 2026. Until the Chancellor sets them out, the January and March rises are the default, not a final decision.

Where fuel is cheapest

Where you fill up still makes more difference than this week's market moves:

• Supermarkets: E10 averages 170.8p at supermarket forecourts, against 173.5p at other forecourts. Diesel is 196.1p against 199.5p.
• Brands: Among brands with more than 200 forecourts, Morrisons (171.0p), Sainsbury's (171.1p), Texaco (171.3p), Asda and Jet (both 171.4p) have the lowest average E10 prices. BP and Shell both average 175.6p.
• Motorways: E10 averages 192.6p and diesel 216.9p at motorway services. That is about 19.6p and 18.1p above the UK averages. Filling 55 litres of E10 at a motorway rather than an average supermarket price costs about £12 more.
• Regions: Northern Ireland remains cheapest, with E10 at 165.2p and diesel at 190.8p (Northern Ireland fuel prices). All five of the cheapest council areas for unleaded are there, led by Causeway Coast and Glens at 164.2p. In Great Britain, the North East (171.3p) and Yorkshire and the Humber (171.7p) have the lowest average E10. The South East is dearest at 174.9p.

London's E10 average fell 1.3p in the week, the biggest drop of any region, to 173.3p. The North East saw the largest weekly diesel cut, 0.6p, to 198.2p.

What it means for you

• Petrol prices are falling slowly and steadily. Diesel is falling more slowly, and the gap between them is still about 26p a litre.
• Monday's drop in oil followed a week of attacks in the Gulf that pushed crude to its highest close since March. The talks in Tehran and any further attacks are the things to watch.
• The fuel duty decision at the Budget will set what happens to the tax part of the price from January.
• In the meantime, the simplest saving is to compare forecourts near you on our live price map and to avoid motorway services where you can.