The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which represents 35 million motorists, has written to the European Union seeking greater transparency on fuel prices.

The FIA wants the influence of investment and speculation on crude oil prices to be investigated.

It believes that crude oil prices are being driven by investors’ expectations rather than simply by supply and demand.

In his letter to the competition commissioner, Werner Kraus, the chairman of the FIA Eurocouncil, pointed out that the price of crude oil rose even when supply exceeded demand.

The FIA also wants an investigation into pricing at the Rotterdam spot market where cargoes of petrol and diesel are traded.

The AA, which is an affiliated member of the FIA, points out that there have been big discrepancies between the cost of oil, wholesale fuel and pump prices this year.

“In the absence of the sort of transparency enjoyed in the USA, Australia and South East Asia, the AA and its European colleagues have no option but to ask the EU to investigate,” said Luke Bosdet, a spokesman for the AA.