Diesel price cut to 99p a litre a Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s

The big four – Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco – have all slashed their prices below £1 for a litre of diesel for the start of 2016. It claims to be the first retailer to bring the price of diesel to below the £1 mark in six years.

Asda followed suit by hacking 3p off the price of the fuel on at its 279 filling stations on Monday – 24 days after it did the same to petrol prices – with Tesco matching the price at its 500 fuel locations.

Bryan Burger, Morrisons petrol retail director, said auto drivers would pay £20 less to fill up a 50 litre fuel tank compared with the high point reached in 2012. However, it isn’t quite as cheap, charing 99.9p a litre across its 301 forecourts from today.

Steve Godding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “It seems the January sales are extending beyond the high street to garage forecourts”.

The cuts reflect further falls in the oil price, which is now at its lowest for 11 years, with UK Brent crude currently trading at just below $38 (£26) per barrel, having lost 35% over the previous 12 months. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen in years. The supermarket’s petrol shoppers had been filling up for under £1 since December 12.

The price of a litre of diesel in the United Kingdom has fallen to its lowest rate since May 2009, prompted by fierce supermarket competition, and motoring organisations predict it could drop to as low as 90p per litre this year.

Mick May, owner of M.J May Transport, based in Darcy Lever, said the cut in diesel price would allow his firm, which already has 29 vehicles, to expand and invest.

“We hope this will help motorists to balance their budgets in the quieter period after the New Year”. This was followed by the second revision on December 16, 2015 where the prices were further reduced and petrol and diesel were valued at Rs 59.98 per litre and Rs 46.09 per litre, respectively.

It pointed out that more miles were driven in the United Kingdom on diesel than on petrol.