THE plunging price of world oil could soon see the cost of petrol dipping below £1 a litre, it has been claimed.
This would take prices at the pumps to their lowest level since the end of May 2009, the RAC said.
The analysis comes as the price of Brent crude oil fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009.
Oil prices have now nearly halved since June as a result of waning demand and increased supplies.
The latest fall was prompted by news of a drop in industrial activity in China, the world's second biggest oil consumer.
The falling price of oil has been blamed in part for the Russian rouble losing 50 per cent against the US dollar this year.
The RAC said that the price of Brent crude was predicted to keep on dropping.
The RAC added that it was hopeful that petrol would be sold nationally for under £1 a litre in the first few months of the new year.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "What's currently happening at the pumps with falling fuel prices is something many motorists will not remember seeing before.
"Talk of prices going up like a rocket and falling like a feather could not be further from the truth as retailers have been quick to pass on savings at the forecourt since we forecast on December 6 that prices were due to come down by 7p a litre for petrol and 6p for diesel."
The RAC's monitoring of fuel prices shows the average price of a litre of petrol is 116.9p - nearly 14p a litre cheaper than at the start of the year.
Diesel is nearly 16p cheaper - 122.33p a litre now compared to 138.24p in January. The average supermarket price of fuel is 114.26p a litre for petrol and 120.18p for diesel.
Mr Williams added: "The cost of going to visit family and friends this Christmas will be the cheapest it's been for nearly five years, but the prospect of petrol going below £1 a litre in the new year is incredible, particularly when prices at the beginning of 2014 seemed to be heading ever upwards.
"Current forecasts are for average petrol prices to fall to below 110p a litre in the next fortnight and diesel to drop to under 116p.
"At these average prices across the country the cheapest retailers will almost certainly be selling petrol for around 105p a litre, or even lower."
The oil price drop came as members of oil cartel Opec reiterated that they would not try to shore up plunging oil prices by reducing production.
"We need to watch the market closely, but it will settle eventually," Qatar's oil minister, Mohammed al-Sada, said.
Russian energy minister Alexander Novak added: "If we cut, the importer countries will increase their production and this will mean a loss of our niche market."
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