Asda has sparked a round of supermarket fuel price cuts, announcing up to 2ppl off unleaded petrol and 1ppl on diesel from Saturday 23 September, bringing prices down to a new national price cap of 115.7ppl on unleaded petrol and 116.7ppl on diesel at all 308 filling stations.

Asda’s head of petrol trading Dave Tyrer said:“Today’s latest move shows that Asda is once again leading the way in reducing the price at the pumps following recent sharp increases caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma. 

“At a time when many garages and supermarkets are charging in excess of 120.9ppl, Asda’s new price cap of 115.7ppl on unleaded and 116.7ppl on diesel will be welcomed by the millions of drivers.”

Sainsbury’s responded with identical price cuts across its 309 forecourts from the same date. Keith Black, Sainsbury’s petrol category manager, said: “This is a nice piece of news for our customers on the roads this weekend. We always aim to provide our customers with fantastic prices and great quality across all of our products and services and we hope this price drop will help them to keep costs down as they start thinking ahead to Christmas.”

Morrisons announced that it would be cutting up to 2ppl off both unleaded petrol and diesel at all its sites, and Tesco was last to react outlining cuts the same as Asda and Sainsbury’s.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “This is some very welcome relief for motorists who have suffered a 3ppl rise in the average price of petrol since mid-August as a result of Storm Harvey hitting the US Gulf Coast and disrupting refineries.

“Motorists are now paying nearly 120ppl for unleaded – the highest since March – while the average price at the big four supermarkets is 117ppl. This latest cut from the supermarkets should force forecourt reductions across the country, hopefully bringing prices down by 2ppl everywhere.

“Strangely, this has all come at time when the oil price has increased by around $7 a barrel since mid-August, but it is the strengthening of the pound to $1.35 that has made the big difference as fuel like oil is traded in dollars.”