Supermarkets cut petrol prices by two pence-per-litre

From 2pm today, Morrisons will also lower the price of unleaded petrol by up to 2ppl.

Asda were the first to announce the cuts this morning, when they revealed that their unleaded fuel will be capped at 109.7 ppl. This makes filling up 2ppl cheaper for petrol users after a series of diesel cuts this year.

The government is not planning to raise excise duty on petrol and diesel to mop up gains accruing from oil prices that slumped to six-and-half year low, a top official said on Thursday.

And rivals Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons waded in shortly afterwards with the same 2p a litre cut, giving millions of petrol auto owners some welcome relief following plummeting diesel prices earlier this month.

The move, which comes into immediate effect, means that in the last month Asda has cut the price of unleaded by 5p per litre and the price of diesel by 9p per litre. Diesel has been on a steady downward path since the start of May, driven by increased capacity from Asia, but the same can not be said for petrol.

BP has this morning led a national price reduction on petrol and diesel at its company owned stores.

“If the conditions stay right, we could see some even lower prices in a few weeks as people return to work after the summer and the school run begins again”, said Rod Dennis from motoring group RAC.

“This summer has been a much cheaper one for motorists than the last”.

The last time motorists paid £1 a litre was in 2009 and unleaded is already 15p a litre cheaper now than a year ago, saving families £7.50 on the cost of filling a hatchback.

Peter Cattell, fuel director for Tesco, said: “We know that lots of customers will be setting off on their holidays over the next week, so we’re dropping the price of our petrol this afternoon”.

Avishai Moor, Sainsbury’s head of fuel, commented: “Diesel prices reached a record low this summer, so it’s great to now see good news for drivers using petrol cars”.

“While we think there is potential for more movement on prices in the coming weeks, it is positive that all motorists are now benefiting from the plummeting price of oil”.