Big stores join petrol price war

Supermarkets today joined the petrol price war, pushing the price of unleaded below £1 a litre at more forecourts across the region.

Asda and Morrisons announced yesterday they were cutting the price of unleaded to 99.9p while diesel was also slashed. The Asda store at Dudley's Merry Hill Centre and Morrisons garages in Kingswinford and Wednesbury both brought their petrol prices below £1 and diesel was selling at 110.9p at Asda and 111.9p at Morrisons today.

BP confirmed it was introducing a 99.9p rate for unleaded and 111.9p for diesel "at a number" of its outlets around the country. Sainsbury's are expected to cut fuel prices later today.

The supermarket giants follow independent retailers who reduced their prices from 9am yesterday. Wall Heath Service Station in Kidderminster Road and Hingley and Callow Oils' garage at Chaddesley Corbett both made morning cuts to reflect plunging oil prices.

Morrisons petrol station in Wednesbury has dropped its prices since it first opened its doors on Friday.

The forecourt in Trouse Lane started by selling unleaded for 105.9p a litre and diesel at 115.9p. Yesterday morning it had fallen to 103.9p for unleaded and diesel at 113.9p but by yesterday afternoon unleaded was selling at 99.9p per litre and 111.9p per litre of diesel.

A barrel of US Crude dropped to around 75 US Dollars yesterday, down almost 50 per cent from a high of 147 US Dollars earlier this year. The crude price is the lowest in 14 months. And experts are predicting fuel prices will continue to fall as the global economic crisis deepens.

Damien Cox, senior analyst at energy adviser John Hall Associates, said: "With the economic situation looking the way it is, I don't think we have seen the bottom yet. There's still a little bit to come out of this over the next few months."

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic announced a reduction in fuel surcharges.

Despite falling petrol prices inflation hit a 16-year high last month. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI), the Government's preferred measure of inflation, jumped to 5.2 per cent in September, up from August's figure of 4.7 per cent.