Cheapest petrol and diesel brands: Texaco and Jet rival supermarkets

Oil prices fell sharply at the start of this week, and pump prices are drifting down with it. But which brand's forecourt you pull into still makes more difference to what you pay than a week's fall in oil. FuelWise's figures for 4 November show that the cheapest brands for petrol aren't only the supermarkets. Texaco, Jet and Valero forecourts are, on average, cheaper for unleaded than Tesco. On diesel, the supermarkets are still clearly ahead.

Where prices stand today

The UK average for E10 unleaded is 171.0p a litre across 7,168 forecourts with a recent price. That is 1.5p lower than a week ago and 3.7p lower than 30 days ago. Diesel averages 198.3p, down just 0.4p on the week and 1.8p over 30 days.

So diesel now costs about 27p a litre more than petrol, and that gap widened this week because petrol fell faster. Cuts far outnumber rises: of 11,333 price changes FuelWise recorded in the past seven days, 10,378 were cuts and 955 were rises.

The brand league table for petrol

Average E10 prices by brand, for the brands with the most forecourts in the Fuel Finder data:

• Asda: 169.1p
• Morrisons: 169.1p
• Texaco: 169.3p
• Sainsbury's: 169.4p
• Jet: 169.5p
• Valero: 169.6p
• Tesco: 169.9p
• Gulf: 170.9p
• Esso: 171.1p
• BP: 173.6p
• Shell: 173.7p

The top seven are within 0.8p of each other. Texaco, Jet and Valero sit between Sainsbury's and Tesco. Texaco's average is 0.6p below Tesco's.

The gap that matters is at the other end. BP and Shell average about 4.5p a litre more than Asda and Morrisons. On a 55-litre fill-up, that is roughly £2.50. Esso, the brand with the most forecourts (1,380), is in the middle at 171.1p, about 2p above the cheapest supermarkets.

Two smaller brands have even lower averages: Circle K at 163.3p and Maxol at 163.8p. Their averages are close to the Northern Ireland average of 163.3p, the cheapest of any UK region, so they don't tell drivers in Great Britain much.

Diesel: supermarkets still lead

Diesel paints a different picture. Average standard diesel prices:

• Tesco: 195.3p
• Asda: 195.7p
• Sainsbury's: 196.1p
• Morrisons: 196.5p
• Texaco: 196.8p
• Jet: 197.4p
• Valero: 198.4p
• Esso: 199.2p
• Shell: 200.2p
• BP: 200.9p

Leaving aside Circle K and Maxol, Tesco has the cheapest average diesel of any brand, despite being the dearest supermarket for petrol. Texaco is 1.5p behind it and Jet 2.1p, so those brands haven't kept pace with the supermarkets here the way they have on petrol. BP averages 5.6p a litre more than Tesco, or about £3 on a 55-litre tank. Shell and BP are the only brands averaging above £2 a litre for diesel.

Taken together, the 2,291 supermarket forecourts average 168.8p for E10 and 195.6p for diesel. That is 2.7p and 3.4p below the other 4,727 non-motorway forecourts. Motorway services are dearest of all at 190.3p for E10 and 215.9p for diesel. You can see every brand's figures on the fuel brands page and the national diesel prices page.

Why oil fell, and why diesel lags

Brent crude, the global benchmark, ended October at a six-month high of $117.64 a barrel, The National reported, after a fourth straight monthly rise. The Strait of Hormuz, which used to carry about a fifth of the world's crude oil and LNG, has been effectively shut since the US-Iran conflict began on 28 February.

The mood then changed. On Monday 2 November Brent fell $8.66, or 7.6%, to settle at $104.77, Reuters reported. Tehran said contacts with the US to end the war were continuing, and President Trump raised doubts about whether he would go ahead with a threatened resumption of strikes. On Tuesday Brent fell a further $1.17 to $103.60, its lowest close since 7 October, according to Reuters. That was despite reported US strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, which a US official described as limited. The Kremlin also confirmed three-way peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November. The same report noted that a deal to end the war in Ukraine could let Russia export more.

Supply risks haven't gone away. Ukraine set fire to a major refinery in the Russian city of Yaroslavl in a drone attack, and ING warned it was "probably too early to think escalation risks have passed". OPEC+ kept its output targets for December unchanged at its meeting on 1 November and gave no timetable for raising output. The National reported that most members are producing below target because of the war. The group meets again on 29 November.

The pound matters too, because oil is priced in dollars. Sterling was at $1.3417 on Monday, Reuters reported, with markets expecting the Bank of England to raise interest rates on Thursday for the first time since August 2023.

Diesel's slow fall has been flagged before. In August the Competition and Markets Authority said it was concerned that some retailers had delayed passing on falls in wholesale diesel costs, and announced a detailed review this autumn, the RAC reported. CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said the regulator expected "any reductions in wholesale prices to be rapidly and fully passed on to drivers."

What this means for you

• Petrol drivers have more choice than they may think. A Texaco, Jet or Valero forecourt is, on average, as cheap as a supermarket. The saving comes from avoiding the brands that average 173p or more, not from choosing between the cheapest few.
• Diesel drivers still do best at supermarkets on average, with Tesco and Asda cheapest. Diesel prices have fallen far less than petrol this week, so it's worth checking before you fill up.
• Brand averages hide local differences. A BP forecourt near you may undercut a supermarket a mile away. Check the live price map or a brand page such as Tesco or Texaco for your area before you set off.
• Avoid motorway services where you can. Their average E10 price is about 19p above the UK average.

If oil stays near this week's four-week low, drivers will be watching to see whether diesel starts to catch up with petrol's falls. FuelWise's figures update every day.