Asda has slashed fuel prices by 4p per litre amid a drop in wholesale costs.
The pump price cut applies to petrol and diesel at all Asda and Asda Express branded sites.
The fall comes just hours after the RAC said drivers should see fuel prices fall from a six-month high over the coming days after a significant drop in wholesale costs.
The motoring organisation said unleaded should come down by at least 6p and diesel by 3p, from their current averages of 139p (138.98p) and 146p (145.79p), if retailers pass on the savings they are benefitting from when buying in new stock.
The cuts have been made possible by the price of oil dropping from above $80 in mid-January to just under $70 now. In the last week, a barrel has averaged $69 – the first time it has sustained such a low price since August 2021.
If oil remains around the $70 mark, the RAC says there’s scope for the price of petrol to fall further, towards 130p a litre and diesel to around 140p. In Northern Ireland, where there is strong competition among retailers, petrol is already being sold for an average of 133p and diesel for 139p – 6p and 7p cheaper than the UK averages.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said: “Drivers have had to endure five months of rising prices, so it’s good news wholesale prices have fallen significantly, and forecourt totem signs should soon be reflecting this.”
He added: “As always in a falling market, much will depend on how fully retailers decide to pass on these wholesale savings at the pumps. The old ‘rocket and feather’ saying about prices going up like a rocket and falling like a feather will hopefully be proved wrong this time around.”
Back in 2022, the Government tasked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) with monitoring competition in fuel retailing. In its first report, the CMA concluded major retailers had overcharged drivers by £900m and in 2023 all retailers were deemed to have overcharged by £1.6bn. In its most recent update last November. the CMA expressed concerns about the intensity of competition between fuel retailers. Its next quarterly report is due to be published later this month.
