Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s have reduced their fuel prices for the second time in a week as the three supermarkets compete for the attention and wallets of customers. The cost of fuel will be sliced by up to 4p per litre across Uk forecourts in a major win for motorists as the wholesale price of oil continues to fall.
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Asda lit the touchpaper on the fuel war and was the first national supermarket to introduce price reductions.
The shop has reduced charges by up to 4p per litre on diesel and 2 pence per litre on unleaded petrol.
The company’s national fuel cap also means road users will not pay more than 118.7p a litre for unleaded fuel in any of their stations.
The cap also means 120.7p is the absolute highest price customers will pay for diesel in forecourts.
Dave Tyrer, spokesman for Asda said: “We’re pleased to be passing on these wholesale cost prices to customers for the second time in two weeks as the price of oil continues to fall.”
To compete with Asda, Morrisons have also confirmed they will reduce the overall price of diesel by 4p per litre and petrol by 2p per litre.
The company confirmed price reductions will be introduced across all of their 335 petrol stations from tomorrow.
Ashley Myers, head of fuel at Morrisons said: “The global oil price is dropping, so we want to pass on savings to our customers as soon as we can – and keep our fuel prices well below the UK average.”
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Sainsbury’s have confirmed they will run an identical deal with 4p off diesel and 2p off unleaded petrol confirmed for all of their 315 stations.
However, their deal will not begin until the end of the week which will give Morrisons an extra 24 hours to win over prospective customers.
The bidding war began last week when all three brands took 3p per litre off their overall petrol and diesel prices.
The news also comes just over a week after RAC experts predicted the cost of fuel would tumble in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
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They predicted petrol costs could fall by up to 4p per litre as diesel is estimated to see a five pence per litre reduction.
Experts said the wholesale price of oil was down due to several factors such as fear ion decreased demand and restrictions limiting travel plans.
The cost of oil fell to below $60 a barrel for the first time since October 2019 after due to predictions of lower demand from China.
However, the latest analysis from the RAC shows average prices increased every day over January until supermarket cuts were released at the end of the month.
They say the average cost increased by around a penny per litre for both petrol and diesel vehicles in the second consecutive rise for both fuels.
The cost of filling a 55-litre family car is now 50p more expensive than it was in December with motorists estimated to pay over £70 to fill the tank with petrol.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Retailers were very quick to protect themselves from a slight jump in the price of oil caused by the tensions between Iran and the US at the start of January by putting up forecourt prices, but when the cost of a barrel dropped back, for some reason, retail prices carried on going up.
“Our biggest retailers – the supermarkets – blatantly resisted passing on the savings they were making to drivers until the RAC publicly called on them to do so on 27 January when RAC Fuel Watch data showed there was scope for a large cut. Two days later a headline-grabbing 3p a litre cut was announced.
“This was clearly good news, but it’s hard to congratulate retailers on doing something they should have done at least a week before.
“Even since the cut pump prices are still out of kilter with what’s been happening on the wholesale market. As things stand now – despite the cuts – petrol is still 5p too expensive and diesel over 7p too dear.”
RAC’s Fuel Watch puts the current price of petrol at 126.65 pence per litre and diesel at 131.00p per litre.
According to their analysis, total costs are very likely to come down within the coming weeks.
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