A fuel expert has urged the public not to 'panic' at the petrol pumps - saying this will only make the situation worse.
Filling stations around the country have seen the price per-litre of petrol break through the €2 mark, with the Government expected to intervene this week to try and stem the surge.
The price of a barrel of Brent Crude - which is the benchmark for oil pricing- sits at around $120 per barrel on Monday afternoon.
It had briefly risen to over $140 a barrel (a new record) before falling back after comments from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken threatening an embargo on Russian oil.
Speaking to Breakfast Business on Newstalk on Monday morning, Kevin McPartlan, the CEO of Fuels for Ireland, urged people to stay calm.
He said: "Panic buying really isn’t helpful because the fuel industry is based on a just-in-time logistics model,
“Fuel is very expensive to store and it is a very expensive product to sit on, so we don’t have thousands of tonnes of it hanging around waiting.
“It is always just in time so if people start buying more than their normal buying patterns then we could have a problem. I am certainly not suggesting we already have a problem but down the line we could have a problem.
“So, we are saying to people, just keep it calm, buy to your normal patterns and we’ll be grand.”
Mr McPartlan also noted that there was one winner from the barrier of €2 per litre being broken
"It is not the oil companies, it is not the wholesalers, and it is not the big oil majors on a global level - that is Government.
“So, if you are at €2 a litre for petrol, the VAT on that has gone up in the last year from 25c to 37.5C.
“So, Government is making that. On Diesel, a year ago, the VAT charge was 23c – that now would be 37.5c for two litres of fuel.”
“They are taking in a lot more in real cash terms than they were expecting to.”
You can hear the full interview with Mr McPartlan here.
