Petrol prices in Oxfordshire have fallen by 1.7p per litre from their high point in the middle of June, according to a new survey.

Diesel prices also fell by 1.7p per litre, said the Fuel-Cards.co.uk regional fuel price report.

The survey showed unleaded petrol cost an average of 82p per litre (£3.73 per gallon) across Oxfordshire. Diesel was 83p.

Teresa Maynard, of Castle Fuel Cards, which produced the report, said: "Petrol prices have fallen about halfway back to their level of a month ago.

"The international oil market is less jittery and some analysts predict that prices will carry on falling until the end of the year.

"That will be welcome news for drivers and businesses, who are currently paying around £3.40 more to fill a typical car's tank with petrol than they did at the beginning of 2004."

But Robert Skinner, of the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, said: "It would be wrong to expect that they are going to drop significantly, or drop back to where they were two or three months ago."

He said the price falls were a result of increased output by members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

He added: "There is ample crude oil going into the market and inventories have been restored, so you are going to see slight softening in petroleum prices, but increased volatility because of the violence in Iraq."

Supermarket filling stations led the downward trend in petrol prices in Oxfordshire, with some Tesco outlets selling unleaded petrol at 77.5p.

The dearest petrol in the county costs almost 83.5p per litre, with a tankful of unleaded ranging from around £42 to £47, depending where drivers fill up.

Across the UK as a whole, the average price of unleaded petrol has fallen by 2p per litre since mid-June to 81.3p and diesel by 2.2p to 82.1p.

Castle Fuel Cards, based at Blackthorn, near Bicester, collects average pump prices electronically from 12,000 forecourts across the UK.

Tell us what you think.