Eight more years of petrol pain

 
24 May 2008

PETROL prices will keep rising for the next eight years, as analysts predict the cost of oil will continue to increase until 2016.

The price of petrol is tipped to reach $1.70 at the bowser within the next fortnight and could hit $2 by the end of the year, Fairfax newspapers report.

Retailers are saying they will be forced to charge higher prices for groceries to cover increased transport costs.

An oil and commodities analyst at the National Australia Bank, Gerard Burg, has backed predictions that oil could reach $US200 a barrel.

It was unlikely the world would see a downturn in fuel prices in the near future, with futures trading in oil as far forward as 2016 still at a premium, he said.