Why is filling your tank costing so much?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Getting a barrel of crude oil out of the ground in Saudi Arabia costs around $25. The market price right now is around $95. So where does that $70 go - and why has the price at the pump jumped so sharply since the war in the Middle East began?
We follow the money behind a tank of petrol: from the oil field, through the world's most dangerous shipping lane, through the commodity markets, through a refinery, and right back to you, waiting at the pump.
We hear from the former Saudi Aramco executive who oversaw production of the world's largest oilfield, one of the world's biggest tanker operators making real-time decisions about whether to sail through a war zone; the chief economist of one of the world's largest commodity traders; and an energy analyst who has been tracking the refining crisis that most commentators have missed.
What product do you want us to follow next? Get in touch with the team by sending us an email to businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Matt Lines
(Photo: A worker pumps gasoline into a car at a petrol station in Bangkok, Thailand, on the 26th of March 2026. Credit: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Business Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | This is Business Daily from the BBC World Service. I'm Sam Fennick. |
| 0:11.7 | Today we're following the money behind a tank of petrol. |
| 0:15.6 | A war has shut down a fifth of the world's oil supply, and right now you're paying for it. |
| 0:21.1 | If anybody could do a voyage in the ormush, they would get paid tenfold. |
| 0:26.9 | It's really at the end of the day what people consume. |
| 0:29.2 | Diesel, for example, that is trading above $200 a barrel. |
| 0:33.6 | From an oil field in the Gulf through the world's most dangerous shipping lane, |
| 0:37.8 | through the commodity markets, through a refinery, |
| 0:40.4 | and right back to you, standing at the pump, who profits, who pays? |
| 0:44.6 | And what does a war in the Middle East actually have to do with the price on the pump? |
| 0:51.5 | I'm standing at the petrol pump, filling up my car and watching the numbers tick up. |
| 0:57.0 | This is the bit I really hate, watching the numbers keep climbing. |
| 1:02.0 | It just feels like when he is floating away into nothing. |
| 1:06.0 | And lately it feels like that's been happening a lot faster than usual. |
| 1:11.6 | Because right now, a war, thousands of miles away from where I am, |
| 1:16.6 | is pushing up the price of fuel in everyone's tank. |
| 1:20.6 | Fuel prices are rising around the world. |
| 1:23.6 | And we wanted to know what you're seeing where you live. Here are some world service |
| 1:29.2 | listeners. This is Diane from Jamaica. Prices of gasoline went up by about 15 to 20% per |
| 1:38.5 | liter. So I can only imagine what diesel's like. I didn't even want to know. This is Abdul Hamid |
| 1:43.5 | in Akra, Ghana. Before the war, it cost me 600 Ghana cities to fill my tank. |
... |
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