Oil prices: UK supermarkets Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s in petrol price war as they match crude oil price decline

The UK’s supermarkets kicked off yet another price war yesterday, with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s all slashing petrol prices by up to 2p per litre (ppl).

 

Morrisons, which has 336 petrol stations in the UK, announced that it was making its third petrol price cut in four weeks. 

 

“The falling wholesale  price of unleaded is allowing us to pass savings on to motorists,” said the group’s services director, Jamie Winter.

 

The oil price has more than halved since July 2014, when it was over $100 per barrel. Yesterday, benchmark Brent crude was trading at around $48 per barrel.

 

Avishai Moor, Sainsbury’s head of fuel, said the company was cutting the price of unleaded petrol by up to 2ppl across its 300 forecourts from today. 

 

And according to Asda, its “new national price cap means that unlike other retailers who work on ‘average prices’ – drivers will pay no more than 105.7ppl on unleaded whilst diesel remains at a national price cap of 107.7ppl”.

 

Simon Williams, fuel spokesman at the motoring group RAC, said: “It’s very encouraging to see savings in wholesale petrol being quickly passed on to motorists at the pump. 

 

This should also have the very positive effect of reducing prices from other retailers around the country.”