Could the price of diesel fall below 1 per litre

Prior to this, the price of petrol was cut on July 1 by 31 paise per litre and diesel by 71 paise a litre.

Good news if you’re planning a getaway this weekend: the price of diesel has fallen to its lowest in five years, after oil prices continued their inexorable slide yesterday.

Petrol and diesel prices were last cut by Rs 2 per litre each, excluding local sales tax, from July 16 but consumers in Delhi were robbed of the benefit as Arvind Kejriwal government raised VAT on the two fuels.

Pump prices have been lower in recent months partly due to supermarket price wars but mainly due to cheaper oil with the price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil falling below $50 (£32) for the first time since January.

David Hunter, an energy industry analyst with Schneider Electric, told BBC Radio 5 live’s Wake Up to Money programme that “faltering economic growth in resource-hungry countries like China is keeping a lid on demand for oil, while on the other hand there is a supply glut”.

Petrol averaged 106.4p per litre at the beginning of February, after the previous low levels in oil prices.

This is the fourth straight reduction in fuel prices.

However, Experian Catalist points out that this is the first time in 14 years that the UK average diesel price has been lower than the average unleaded price.

Diesel has fallen faster than petrol because of weaker demand in Europe and an increase in diesel refining capacity. “It is a very volatile market”.