Fuel news from Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) - Market forces will trigger a fall of up to four pence a litre in petrol pump prices next week to levels just before Hurricane Katrina struck in late August, the Petrol Retailers Association said on Wednesday.

The forecast came on the first of three days of planned protests at oil depots around the country led by hauliers campaigning against high fuel costs.

Fears of a repeat of protests brought Britain to a near standstill five years ago proved unfounded as truck drivers carried on working and the police ensured tankers delivered fuel from refineries and depots as usual.

"Next week, when things have calmed down again, we'll see prices fall due to falling wholesale prices," Ray Holloway of the PRA said.

"We'll return to pre-Katrina levels at the pump and that will happen next week," Holloway said.

The slippage from fresh record highs of around 96 pence a litre for premium unleaded petrol on Tuesday will be triggered by a drop of nearly a quarter in international gasoline barge prices in Rotterdam since a September 1 all-time high.

MORE CAUTIOUS

The forecast, which would mean a cut of four pence a litre from a current pump record of 96 p/litre, was welcomed by the Automobile Association, although the AA expected a less dramatic fall.

"That would be very good news for motorists," said Luke Bosbet of the AA Motoring Trust.

"I'd expect petrol prices to fall, but more slowly than 4 p/litre by the end of next week," Bosbet said. "We're more cautious."

According to the AA, average petrol and diesel prices at pumps stood at 91.88 p/litre and 95.57 p/litre respectively on August 28, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana coastline, taking out a tenth of U.S. refining capacity.

By Tuesday of this week, prices had hit records of 96.05 p/litre for petrol and 98.15 p/litre for diesel, with several sites around the country charging well over a pound a litre.

"Prices stabilised and actually fell by a tiny amount on Monday, but they went up again on Tuesday," Bosbet said, mainly due to panic-buying by motorists worried about potential shortages due to the fuel protests.

U.S. crude oil futures hit a record high of $70.85 a barrel on August 30 as fuel supply worries grew after Katrina struck. They have since dropped back to $63.56 a barrel.

Rotterdam premium unleaded gasoline barges, which form the basis for petrol pump prices, raced to an $865 (473.6 pounds) a tonne record on September 1 from $650 on August 29.

On Wednesday, Rotterdam barges were trading between $660 and $663, 24 percent down in the two weeks since September 1, oil traders said.

Oil majors said they were monitoring international prices and would ensure their prices were competitive with their local rivals across the country.

"We just don't speculate on future prices, but the name of the game is to keep our pump prices competitive," said a spokesman for U.S. oil major ExxonMobil, which directly runs 665 Esso-branded forecourts across the UK.

Another 335 Esso-branded sites are run by independent dealers.

So the protests (or fear of) worked again then.

not really.... they'll give us 4pence this time, and in a month or two, £1 a liter will be the norm.... another great kick up the arse by the government

I'd like to know if fuel duty is charged as a percentage or a fixed amount on each litre.

percentage....