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The chancellor has admitted he cannot prevent oil companies putting up the price of fuel despite the duty cut announced in the Budget.
But George Osborne said he would be watching "like hawks" to make sure there was "no funny business" and the tax rise was not passed on to motorists.
Osborne had announced in yesterdays Budget a surprise windfall tax on North Sea oil producers, worth £2bn. The move would postponed next month's planned 4p fuel duty increase and cut the current duty by 1p a litre.
On a tour of television and radio interviews, the chancellor said: "I can't control the world oil price, it may go up or down. What I can control are the taxes that are put on oil and are put on a litre of petrol.
"I have cut that tax by 1p and crucially avoided the 5p increase that was coming in a few days time. For a family, that is 6p a litre less tax."
He added: "We will be watching (the oil giants) like a hawk, believe you me, and we will be making sure the tax cut is passed on.
"This has cost £2bn, its expensive stuff but I thought it was fairer to get that from oil companies than ask British families for it."
Osborne told Radio 4's Today programme that measures in the Budget aim to "create the stability and now give the entrepreneurial boost to get us into the prosperity we all want to see".
On the cost of the UK's current operations in Libya from the reserve, Osborne said the govenrment would meet the costs and "the money is there to help with this".
Speaking earlier to Today, shadow chancellor Ed Balls said January's rise in VAT had already been the biggest factor in fuel price increases.
He said that the cut in fuel duty had been the "right decision" but may not lead to cheaper petrol at the pumps, as the oil companies could increase prices.
The shadow chancellor said the government was clinging on to an economic strategy that was not working, highlighting the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warning that growth was being squeezed.
Balls said: "The OBR said yesterday that nothing in the growth plan would make any difference to the growth of the economy. They actually forecast unemployment and borrowing to be higher over the next few years.
"George Osborne is in a blinkered way carrying on regardless of what people know is the reality. The reality is that it is not working. He is a political chancellor who doesn't understand the economic reality that he is facing."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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