BP has launched a new ultra-low sulphur diesel product by revealing it has already been available in many sites for months. The new fuel is already available at 75% of its 1,600 filling stations, allowing the oil company to leapfrog rivals Shell and Esso which have just started rolling out the fuel to their own site.

Esso's Diesel 2000 and Shell's Pura diesel and now BP Greener Diesel will replace the companies' diesel products. BP Greener Diesel, which will be sold for the same price as the outgoing diesel product, promises reduced particulates, emissions and a 90% cut in sulphur dioxide. A spokesman for BP said: 'The fuel has already been available at a lot of our sites, but we did not want to rebrand our diesel until it was nationally available. We should have 100% of our sites covered over the next three months.'