Average petrol prices in the five largest cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, were at their lowest levels in more than two years during the March quarter but prices are still trending upwards.
The ACCC’s March 2019 Petrol monitoring report shows average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities were 130.3 cents per litre (cpl) during the quarter. This was a decrease of 11.8 cpl from the December quarter 2018 (142.1 cpl).
Daily petrol prices were at their cheapest in early January, but increased by around 30 cpl during the quarter.
“Retail petrol prices in Australia are primarily determined by international crude oil and refined petrol prices which hit a low point around the New Year,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
“Decreases in international refined petrol prices and decreases in gross retail margins were the main factors contributing to lower retail petrol prices in the quarter.”
Petrol prices have continued to increase since March 2019. Monthly average petrol prices in the five largest cities increased by 9.0 cpl in April 2019 to 146.3 cpl. Daily petrol prices reached a high of 152.9 cpl in late April. This increase has been driven by crude oil prices increasing due to continued production cuts by the OPEC cartel and Russia, and supply disruptions in Venezuela, Libya and Sudan.
A significant development in the quarter was the announcement by Viva Energy that it will be setting the retail prices at Coles Express retail sites. This, combined with the completion of the sale of Woolworths retail fuel sites to Euro Garages in early April, represents a fundamental change in the retail petrol market. At the height of their market presence in 2012-13, the supermarket chains accounted for more than 50 per cent of the retail petrol market by volume.
“The presence of the supermarket chains in the retail petrol market has significantly reduced recently after having a large presence for many years. We’ll be carefully watching the pricing practices of Viva Energy and Euro Garages and seeing what impact this has on the market,” Mr Sims said.
Other fast facts from the latest petrol monitoring report:
- Brisbane and Perth prices were higher than other large Australian cities
- Darwin prices decreased significantly
- The city-country price difference was lower than the December quarter
- Diesel and automotive LPG prices were also lower.
