ACS

Gordon Brown called on petrol retailers yesterday to pass on recent falls in the price of oil to consumers by cutting the cost at the pump to about £1 a litre. The prime minister was speaking in Brussels as the price of crude oil fell by another $4 a barrel to $66 - its lowest level for 14 months.

The recent falls in the oil price prompted Opec, the producers' cartel, to call an emergency meeting next week to discuss production cuts to support the market.

Speaking at the end of an EU summit, Brown said the Office of Fair Trading would monitor prices to ensure retailers were not profiteering. He said: "It is encouraging that we have seen petrol prices fall in the UK in recent days, with some supermarkets reducing their prices to below £1 a litre. I would like to see other retailers following that lead."

The prime minister said that retailers had no excuse for high prices because the price of a barrel of oil had fallen from $147 in July to below $70. "You will see over the next few days people giving a great deal of attention to what price is being charged by different companies," he said. "We want to see retailers responding to the price that has been taken down by some people."

The last time crude was at $66 a barrel, a year ago, petrol prices were 92p a litre, suggesting that retailers have been slow to pass on the price fall. Brown said that it was wrong to raise pump prices when oil prices rise and then do nothing when the price falls. "The public know that when oil prices go up it is reflected very quickly in the petrol pump price," he said. "What they want to know is that when oil prices come down that is also reflected in the pump price."

Brown said the OFT would be monitoring petrol prices because of the way they vary around the country. "There is still too much variation in price across our country," he said. "That must change."