Supermarket `price war` sends petrol prices down

Average petrol prices fell at the weekend, as several supermarkets took advantage of falling oil prices.

Tesco, Sainsbury`s and Asda all cut their prices by up to 3p, according to Thisismoney.co.uk, after the International Energy Agency decided to open emergency oil reserves in order to help prevent shortages or price increases.

According to Whatgas.com, the current average price of a litre of unleaded petrol is 133.2p. Prices had been on an upward trend since the second half of last year.

A 3p fall means filling a typical 50-litre petrol tank is £1.50 cheaper.

An expert at debt management company Gregory Pennington said: "The price cuts may be small in the scheme of things, but they will be welcomed by many of the people whose finances have been hard pressed by rising costs in recent months.

"However, falling petrol prices alone aren`t going to solve anyone`s financial problems if they`re really struggling, so we urge people to keep looking at other ways of cutting back on spending - and to seek expert advice if they continue to struggle."