Oil prices have crashed in Asia by around 30% in what analysts are calling the start of a price war.
Opec's 14 members, led by Saudi Arabia met with it's allies Russia and other non-Opec members on Friday to discuss how to respond to falling demand caused by the growing spread of the Coronavirus. However the two sides failed to agree on measures to cut production by as much as 1.5 million barrels a day. Without such an agreement, Opec counties have very little incentive to restrain production so oil markets look sharply oversupplied.
Stock prices, already hit by the impact of Coronavirus fell dramatically across the globe with shares facing the worst day since the 2008 financial crisis. Trading in US shares was briefly suspended after the largest US stock index, the S&P fell 7%.
Whilst the drop in the price of oil is having a negative effect on share prices, it is good news for motorists. RAC's fuel spokesperson Simon Williams said " This is looking like the biggest single daily drop in the oil price in 20 years. It should translate to some serious cuts at the pumps, particularly as the price of both petrol and diesel is still overpriced despite two rounds of cuts from the supermarkets last month"
If the cost of oil continues to stay low the expectation is that petrol prices across the country could fall by up to 10p per litre and may also see a knock-on effect of reduced household gas and electricity prices.