Weekend fuel cycle spike hits motorists as price jumps 42c/l

Families heading back from school holiday travels have been hit by a massive petrol price spike of more than 40c per litre.

Petrol prices in Adelaide spiked by more than 40c/l over the weekend as families travelled back from school holidays.

The average unleaded price in Adelaide on Friday was around 129.9c/l. But in less than 48 hours the price rocketed to an average of 169.8c/l last night.

Across Adelaide the prices were higher than average as most large chains adopted 171.9c/l as their maximum price. Some independent chains and isolated stores were selling for as low as 131.9c/l, 38 cents below the average.

RAA senior manager mobility and automotive Mark Borlace said the price hike was one of the sharpest in recent times.

“The spike certainly happened earlier than we were expecting,” Mr Borlace said.

“We were expecting another three or four days of the whole price cycle trending down before it hit the bottom and went back up again. This is at the high end of petrol cycle jumps and we are only seeing them getting bigger.

“The jumps are also having more of an impact on the average motorist.

”f you miss a 20c/l jump it is maybe costing an extra $20 per tank of fuel. But when you get to the 40c/l jumps you are looking at significant amounts of money.”

Mr Borlace said South Australia needs live fuel tracking to allow motorists to make informed choices about where to fill up.

“Having that real time fuel pricing information would allow drivers to reward independent outlets who take the risk of having lower fuel prices,” he said.

The potential fallout of the attacks on vital oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia last month did not have as much of an effect of domestic petrol prices as was initially predicted. The last fuel cycle peaked at just over 165c/l but stayed at that level for three days before dropping.