Fuel prices are falling rapidly so that motorists should expect petrol price relief before Christmas, with average national petrol price falling about 10 cents to around $1.40 a litre in November, thanks to a global oil glut and a price battle between USA shale oil producers and the Saudi-Arabia-led OPEC countries.
According to the NRMA, Sydney’s last price cycle lasted 33 days, five days longer than the previous cycle. Tuesday afternoon December 2 was day 12 of the current cycle, with the current average price for regular unleaded in Sydney at 134.1 cents per litre, while prices are expected to fall to 127 cents per litre in the next week.
“The most expensive point of the current cycle was Friday 21 November at 147.5 cents per litre for regular unleaded petrol. The corresponding prices for E10, Premium 95 and Premium 98 were 146.1, 159.3 and 165.4 cents per litre respectively,” the NRMA said.
The NRMA’s Peter Khoury said that Singapore’s Mogas is at a five-year low and it’s time motorists started to see it at the bowser.
CommSec’s chief economist Craig James said he expects the national average price to fall to around $1.25 a litre within weeks.
“The rapid slide in oil prices has boosted the profits of petrol retailers with gross retail margins at historically high ¬– close to record – levels,” Mr James said.
Mr James said cheaper petrol prices could give Australian consumers an extra $2 to $3 billion to spend this Christmas. “It’s clearly going to unleash spending power for consumers,” he said.