FUEL prices have gone stupid over the past week, since the United States and Israel started striking Iran for the second time in less than 12 months. 

Let's not talk about the apparent confusion among US leaders about the objectives of the war. And we won't mention that one of those objectives is allegedly to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities, even though the US president insisted those facilities were completely "obliterated" last year.

We're going to focus purely on the fuel situation. 

So, around one-fifth of the world's oil passes through that teeny tiny corridor, better known as the Strait of Hormuz, which runs along Iran's coastline and is dotted with its islands. 

There's no other way in or out of the Persian Gulf, except through that corridor. So when Iran declared it would set ships ablaze if they attempted to pass through it, the world's markets became somewhat concerned.

Insurers decided they weren't too keen on covering any vessels that failed to heed Iran's warning. And given missiles and drones had already been flying in every direction, with ports and ships among the infrastructure hit since the war started a week ago, who would blame them? 

Arguably, watching a video of a boat getting blown to smithereens in international waters probably did not help ease the alarm, despite it being an Iranian warship. 

Meanwhile, in Australia, our fearless federal minister for energy, Chris Bowen, urged the people not to panic buy fuel!

There's no need to concern ourselves with the fact that Brent crude oil futures, the global price barometer, jumped from around $US73 a barrel late last week to over $85/bbl on Thursday. It's only 23 per cent more expensive than a month ago and up just 20 per cent on a year ago. Nothing to worry about. Right?

We have plenty of fuel – Bowen assured us. There's over 34 days' worth of diesel on Australian soil and in Australian waters – so plenty of fuel to get in 25 million hectares of crop, right? It would be too bad if agriculture wasn't the only industry in Australia that relies heavily on diesel to operate.

For some reason though, just over a month's worth of diesel doesn't feel like plenty. And it seems many people in Australia agree, despite Bowen's insistence the energy companies had "absolutely no plans of increasing the price of petrol until and unless the price of oil increase flows through to Australia."

He had "great confidence" the refineries wouldn't be gouging consumers, and said the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) would be looking closely at "the entire supply chain to ensure that the only increases in petrol prices are those that are clearly caused by the pressure on oil prices internationally."

It seems someone along the line missed that memo because FuelWatch shows the average price of unleaded fuel in Perth jumped 14 per cent from 164.6 cents a litre last Friday to 187c/litre today. 

FuelWatch also warned on Wednesday many branded metro sites were "hiking their diesel price," with today's average across the metropolitan region now 200.6c/litre – up 11 per cent from 181.5c/litre a week ago.

According to MotorMouth, the rise was from 176.8c/l last Friday to 196.4cl/l. But let's not split hairs. The point is – it's up. 

This, oddly enough, appears to be the case in other regions too. MotorMouth shows the average diesel price in Melbourne was 205.3c/litre today, up from 185.3c/litre a week ago. It is a little suspicious, given the highest daily average in Melbourne over the last 60 days was 193.2c/l – prior to the recent hike. 

Similarly, average diesel prices in Sydney were up from 175.9c/l to 212c/l, 175.6c/l in Adelaide to 202.3c/l and 182.2c/l in Brisbane to 208.9c/l.

And again, there have been no such spikes in recent months prior to the start of the war (I mean… conflict). 

But fear not – ACCC reiterated the energy minister's comments today … insisting it would "not hesitate to take action if representations and market behaviour by a petrol company contravene competition and consumer laws."  

The ACCC encouraged motorists to "use fuel price apps and websites to shop around to find the lowest prices."

There's been little mention of diesel. But, if you're wondering, Liberty in Cataby, Western Australia, is offering diesel at a very reasonable price of 169.5/l today. Anyone up for a drive?