Asda and Tesco slash fuel prices to under £1 a litre amid supermarket pump price war
13 May 2020, 15:46
The supermarket giants have followed in Morrisons' footsteps after they dropped prices significantly earlier this week.
For the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, fuel prices have dropped to less than £1 a litre.
Supermarket leaders Tesco and Asda have just dropped their prices of unleaded following Morrisons' decision to do so yesterday, with a maximum of 99.7p per litre at all its forecourts.
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The huge drop in prices has kicked off a fuel price was between the largest supermarkets, with others expected to follow their example.
This is the first time petrol has been sold for under a pound since 2008, when the financial crisis happened, and a crash in the cost of crude oil has recently delved to negative figures for the first time in history, all because of the coronavirus.
Diesel has also dropped in cost, with Morrisons pricing it at £104.7p a litre from yesterday, and Asda following suit with the same exact prices today.
Tesco's new prices have seen petrol drop to no more than 99.9p a litre, and diesel at 105.9 per litre.
According to Morrisons, the average motorist will now save £4.50 on a typical 50-litre tank of petrol following the price cuts.
Due to lockdown, people are driving a lot less, but the Prime Minister's announcement on Monday has stated that people may now drive to "other destinations" to exercise, with many taking this as a reason to take a road trip.
Speaking to The Sun Online, Simon Williams, fuel spokesman at RAC, said the initial move by Morrisons had brought petrol and diesel to “a very fair price and one that is much more reflective of what the retailer is itself paying to buy the fuel in”.
However, he's added that the lower cost isn't likely to last long, saying: "Unfortunately though, there is a darker side to any large price cuts - they heap yet more pressure on smaller independent fuel retailers, who in some cases are already fighting for survival as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
"It remains to be seen how long prices this low will persist for, with some early indications that wholesale petrol prices have started to rise as a result of the world oil price creeping up."
