Under the threat of scrutiny from the Office of Fair Trading and conscious that in a recession, consumers are prepared to travel further in search of value for money - the price war at the pumps between the leading supermarkets shows few signs of ebbing. Asda and WM Morrisons set the latest ball rolling this week and Tesco and Sainsbury have fallen into line in quick order. It is difficult to work out who - if anyone - is assuming the mantle of price leader in this battle for fuel sales.

Crude oil prices are back where they were this time last year and fuel prices are pretty close to the levels seen in the Fall of 2007. For all of the talk of petrol and diesel prices taking weeks to change in response to the fluctuating price of crude, this market seems to be adjusting pretty swiftly. This can not be said for electricity and gas prices - Robert Peston picks up on this in his blog today.