Supermarkets launch new petrol price war "Our prices are the lowest they have been all year and our national price cap on fuel benefits everyone across the country, meaning that no one filling up at Asda is forced to pay a premium for their fuel because of where they live," said Andy Peake, Asda's petrol trading director. Diesel will cost 135.7 pence a litre at Asda and 136.9 pence a litre at Sainsbury's. The fall in forecourt prices will be a huge relief for motorists who, only weeks ago, had been warned they could be hit hard by the continuing instability in the Middle East. But the easing of tension, especially with both Britain and America ruling out an attack on Syria, has seen oil prices on the world market drop. Since the second week of this September, after the US and Russia defused the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, the wholesale price of petrol has fallen from 47p a litre to just below 45p a litre. It had hit a late summer high of 52p a litre in the last week of August. The decision of Sainsbury's to set a ceiling will help answer criticism that drivers faced a postcode lottery when it came to filling up their cars. It was a move, which was welcomed by the AA. It should turn what has been, up to now, a phoney fuel price war into one that means something to hard-pressed drivers.