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Supermarkets cut petrol prices as wholesale costs fall

adamlewis
Written By:
adamlewis
Posted:
Updated:
24/03/2017

The leading supermarkets have announced petrol price cuts from this weekend off the back of a fall in wholesale fuel costs.

Wholesale prices have come down by 2p a litre owing to a combination of the cost of a barrel of oil falling to $50 and the pound strengthening against the dollar.

And now it seems supermarkets have been quick off the mark to reduce forecourt prices. Here’s what’s happening:

  • Asda: From Saturday 25 March, Asda will drop the price of fuel by up to 2p per litre and, as it includes a national price cap at all 301 filling stations, drivers will pay no more than 112.7ppl on unleaded and 114.7 on diesel.
  • Morrisons: Effective from today, Morrisons has cut the price of petrol and diesel by up to 2ppl.
  • Sainsbury’s: From Saturday 25 March, Sainsbury’s is cutting the price of diesel and unleaded by 2ppl across its 306 forecourts. Drivers can earn one Nectar point on each litre of fuel purchased.
  • Tesco: Effective from today, Tesco has cut the cost of petrol and diesel by 2ppl at all of its 500 petrol stations.

Simon Williams, fuel spokesman at the RAC, said: “The wholesale price of fuel has fallen in the last fortnight so it’s good to see this being quickly passed on by retailers. We were at the point where motorists should have been starting to feel aggrieved that pump prices were higher than they ought to be. The last thing retailers need is for the public’s trust in their pricing policies to be undermined.”

Williams urged other retailers – large and small – to follow suit and bring the price of petrol and diesel down around the country.

Earlier this month, leading supermarket slashed the forecourt price of petrol and diesel by 2p a litre which caused a “ripple effect” with other retailers cutting their prices. This brought the national average price of both fuels down by more than a penny, with unleaded dropping from 120.07p to 118.81p and diesel from 122.05p to 120.89p.

According to Petrolprices.com, the average UK price for a litre of diesel was 120.9ppl on Thursday, while the cost of unleaded petrol stood at 118.8ppl.