Supermarkets to cut petrol prices below £1 a litre

Morrisons reduced its unleaded to 99.7p per litre (ppl) and diesel to 103.7ppl. Picture: Toby Williams

The UK’s major supermarket fuel retailers have cut the price of petrol below £1 a litre.

It is the first time the cost of filling up has dropped to that level since 2009, excluding promotions.

The cuts come as the price of oil continues to tumble, with Brent crude sinking below 39 US dollars a barrel.

Morrisons reduced its unleaded to 99.7p per litre (ppl) and diesel to 103.7ppl.

Tesco and Sainsbury’s both announced cuts to make petrol 99.9ppl and took a penny off diesel.

The Christmas price war began when Asda launched a three-day promotion – ending on Sunday – which dropped unleaded to 99.7ppl and diesel to 103.7ppl.

Luke Bosdet, of motoring organisation the AA, said: “The question for non-supermarket forecourts is whether they ride out the storm or take it on with price cuts of their own. If the latter, the UK could see a serious dent in the average petrol price by the end of the weekend.”