DRIVERS will be eyeing recent upward movement in forecourt petrol prices and asking how much further can they rise?

In the short-term the answer is they could rise a bit further yet.

Crude oil is currently trading at around $80 a barrel on the various international spot markets.

That’s still a long way beneath the near $200 a barrel they edged towards two years ago, so there may yet be some further room for higher crude prices to feed through to pump prices.

But in the longer term, the price is likely to ease. Certainly our use of oil is showing clear signs of falling.

That’s because, according to most leading oil industry analysts, including OPEC, the global economy is showing signs of becoming less reliant on oil.

A combination of the high prices experienced in recent years and the need to cut oil use for environmental reasons is driving down oil consumption.

Western nations in particular are finding other ways of powering economic growth.

As a result, the world may soon achieve something long dreamed of by governments and policymakers: higher economic growth without using more oil.

Oil demand in the rich, industrialised countries of the West already appears to have peaked and the trend in developing economies is towards an ever-smaller increase in the amount of oil consumed for every extra unit of economic growth, we are told.

However, a fall in the total amount of oil consumed around the world is not going to happen just yet.

It could take another decade or two before that happens.

Population growth and rising wealth in poorer parts of the world will push up oil consumption.

However within two decades, the forecasters predict, oil consumption will begin to fall. BP chief executive Tony Hayward said last month world oil demand would peak sometime after 2020 at between 95m and 110m barrels per day, compared with current oil demand of around 85m.

When it comes to big industry money talks.

The reason the oil substitution effect is happening so quickly is the impact high prices have on business profits.

So the next time you fill up at the pump and feel a twinge of pain about the price of a full tank, remember it’s all helping wean us off the stuff, which is good for us and future generations.

The fact that Easyjet flies more people from British airports than British Airways or Ryanair is no small achievement.

The airline has come a long way in just a little more than a decade.

It flew 28.15m passengers from UK airports last year, just 50,000 more than Ryanair and about 2m more than BA.

It’s a real triumph of operations, pricing and, probably above all, marketing.

The airline has persuaded millions of air travellers to go to its website in the belief they will find the cheapest prices there, even though that is not always the case.

In fact, depending on when you book and who is travelling with you, a full service airline can be cheaper than a no frills alternative.

That’s because full service airlines offer child fares, something no frills operators don’t do.

But despite the official figures, Easyjet’s claim to be Britain’s “favourite” airline sounds untrue.

We may drink table wine, but most of us would favour fine wines.

So it is with no frills flying.

We may travel on a no frills airline to save money, but most would prefer full service standards.