PETROL prices could fall further over the next few weeks, says a Huddersfield petrol retailer.

Cuts in fuel prices on supermarket forecourts have already pushed the UK average price down to 136.89p a litre – 3.02p lower than a month ago. And the average price of diesel has fallen 4.62p to a current 141.76p a litre.

Prices in Huddersfield now average 136.9p for unleaded and 140.9p for diesel.

Bernard Stern, site manager for CJ Stern (Oils) Ltd at Paddock, said the trend on prices was definitely downward.

“It may take a few days or a week but prices will fall,” he said. “The barrel price has dropped below $100 for the first time in a long time and as wholesale prices fall that should be reflected at the pumps once existing stocks are used up.”

Mr Stern said pump prices were likely to fall only by another 1p or 2p, but said: “Prices have been slowly eroding as wholesale prices come down.”

Part of the reason for prices falling was the drop in demand for home heating fuel in the USA following the end of winter, he added.

Motoring organisation the AA said that average petrol prices could fall to about 134p a litre.

At present, the cheapest petrol in the UK is in London at 136.1p a litre on average, while the most expensive is in Northern Ireland at 137.8p a litre.

Northern Ireland also has the dearest diesel 142.8p a litre, while Yorkshire and Humber has the cheapest at 140.8p.

AA president Edmund King said: “Last April UK petrol consumption fell. In October it did the same. And in February the UK sold the lowest volume of petrol in 23 years of recording.

“In the past 12 months, oil and fuel price speculation has swung back and forth through the fuel market like a wrecking ball, smashing family budgets, pulverising fuel demand and rocking the foundations of fuel retailers and other business viability.”

He said: “The last 12 months have shown pump price volatility is more acute than ever, driven largely by speculation. At least, though, the current prices are going in the right direction.”