Asda cuts fuel prices after oil price spirals on coronavirus
Supermarket Asda has cut the price of petrol and diesel amid the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil war.
The supermarket has cut its price by 2p per litre (ppl), meaning petrol will cost 114.7p per litre and diesel will cost 116.7p per litre.
Asda said they are its lowest fuel prices since November 2017.
“It will be a welcome boost, especially to diesel drivers who are seeing some of the lowest fuel prices since 2017,” Asda senior fuel buyer Dave Tyrer told the Yorkshire Post.
The price of Brent crude fell to $31 a barrel yesterday, the lowest for four years, after Saudi Arabia moved against Russia by flooding the market with cheap oil.
Asda’s fuel price cut offers a silver lining to the oil price war, which caused a stock market meltdown yesterday and knocked billions off energy giants.
An RAC survey last week revealed an overall fall in fuel prices.
AA fuel price spokesman Luke Bosdet said: “For the past two years, UK drivers have had to endure petrol averaging 125p a litre – 15p a litre higher than during lows of 2015 and 2016.
“Now, a last, some real financial relief will flow from the pumps.”
Sign up to Morning Wire’s Midday Update newsletter, delivered to your inbox every lunchtime
However, he also warned the price between what Asda charges compared to other forecourts could soon reach £4 a tank.
The alliance between the Saudi Arabia-dominated oil cartel Opec and Russia, known as Opec+, fell apart last week as coronavirus hurt oil.
Russia had refused to countenance a further cut to production to protect oil prices from low demand amid the coronavirus outbreak.
As a result, Saudi Arabia and its allies decided to dramatically increase oil production to almost 11m barrels per day by April.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, international demand for oil has fallen on travel restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19 infections.
Though consumers stand to benefit from lower costs, some sectors such as airlines, automotive and retail have suffered disruption from the virus.
Stocks across the world fell dramatically yesterday as a result of the crash in oil prices. They have posted a tentative recovery today.