Petrol prices in South East Queensland hit record highs

Petrol prices across South East Queensland have hit record highs with a tank of unleaded now costing an eye-watering amount at servos across Brisbane. The PM has promised government help is coming.

Petrol prices in South East Queensland have surged to record highs, with some motorists forced to pay more than $200 a tank at the bowser.

Hundreds of petrol stations across the state have hiked prices to beyond $2.20 a litre for standard unleaded, leaving owners of SUVs and 4WD with fuel tanks in the range of 90 litres paying an astronomical $200 and beyond for the first time in history.

Even owners of small-to-medium cars with half the fuel capacity are being slugged more than $100 for a tank, with 221.9 cents a litre a common price across the southeast.

Some servos were charging almost $2.24 a litre.

With Russia’s war in Ukraine effectively taking the world’s third biggest petrol producer off the market, fuel prices have gone through the roof, although there is hope the volatility will stabilise in the coming weeks.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has today assured motorists that the government is working on bringing down sky-rocketing petrol prices and hinted that the Federal Budget could deliver some cost-of-living support.

“I think Australians know that what’s happening with petrol prices at the moment is being caused by what’s happening with the war in Europe – I think Australians understand those issues,” he told media on Sunday morning.Mr Morrison was asked if he would change the government’s fuel excise to bring down the impact on Australian wallets.“The answer is the budget’s at the end of this month, but my point is that excise, where it has sat, is not going to change what the fluctuations are in price that is going to mean many times over any change you made in excise,” he said.

Carla Comiskey stops for petrol at Mobil Clayfield. Picture: Annette Dew

While prices in excess of $2.20 a litre were the norm, some servos were offering fuel for less than $2, meaning savvy motorists could have saved more than $15 a tank.

RACQ fuel expert Ian Jeffreys said the weekend prices would hopefully be the highest of the current price cycle.

“This is probably the worst of it,” he said.

“Prices should start to slowly come down over the next few days and it might take 4-5 weeks to move through the whole cycle.”

He said it was difficult to predict just how high prices could go, though some experts have forecast a jump to $3 a litre in the future.

“There’s so much instability in the world at the moment, so any kind of accurate prediction is incredibly difficult.”

The price of crude oil was this week sitting at $112.70 US a barrel ($154 AUD), down slightly from last week in a sign the markets may be starting to trend downwards.

Mr Jeffreys said owners of large vehicles with big petrol tanks and lower fuel efficiency would feel the pinch the most.

“Smaller, more efficient cars will have smaller fuel bills,” he said.

“So if you’ve got a two-car household and one car is a 4WD and the other might be a little hatchback, it’s time to leave the 4WD in the garage if you can.”

BP service stations at Hillcrest and Oxenford on the Gold Coast were charging 223.9 cents a litre on Saturday afternoon, while Liberty Eight Mile Plains was among the cheapest – selling unleaded for $1.84.

Carla Comiskey stopped short of filling up at Mobil’s Clayfield service station yesterday, knowing the hit to the pocket her 90-litre fuel tank would cause at almost $2.16 a litre for diesel.

“When you’ve got a bigger car with a bigger tank those raised prices really add up,” she said.