Petrol prices expected to fall across Sydney amid plunging global oil prices, fuel price cycle

Sydney motorists have had to cough up as much as $2.10 for a litre of petrol recently despite global oil prices dropping – but some relief is on the way. These are the factors influencing the city’s petrol prices and when it will be cheapest to fill up at the bowser.

Petrol prices are not regulated in Australia, meaning motorists have a wide range of price options that fluctuate frequently.

Sydney motorists have had to cough up as much as $2.10 for a litre of petrol recently despite global oil prices dropping – but some relief is on the way.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal one-in-five service stations in Sydney charged less than $1.80 per litre for regular unleaded petrol and one-in-five charged $2 or more, while the average price hovered at about $1.887 across the city as of Tuesday afternoon.

Based on the NRMA Fuel Finder app, motorists could fill up at the bowser for as low as $1.52 per litre at three service stations in Granville or up to $2.09 per litre in Maroubra.

Prices peaked two weeks ago at just under $2 on average and are falling by about a cent a day as the wholesale price of petrol plunges overseas to about $1.56 per litre.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said Sydneysiders will have to wait until late May for prices to fall to $1.60 or lower.

Fuel will be cheapest at this time as global prices, pushed down by Donald Trump’s tariffs and increased oil production, will sync up with the bottom of Sydney’s petrol “price cycle”.

“All major cities in Australia have these unique price cycles unlike anywhere else in the world where the average price rises to its highest point, falls to its lowest point, then goes back up again,” Mr Khoury said.

“Sydney is currently at the high point of its cycle, which fluctuates from between 20 days to about two months on average.”

Petrol prices are starting to fall across Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard.

Mr Khoury said the cycle is a marketing strategy used by service stations to entice motorists through the pump by lowering prices and then steadily raising them again, before quickly dropping them back to stay competitive.

Mr Khoury said the cycle is a marketing strategy used by service stations to entice motorists through the pump by lowering prices and then steadily raising them again, before quickly dropping them back to stay competitive.

NRMA predicts prices will bottom out by the end of the month and increase by about two cents a day, roughly double the rate at which they fall, to peak by mid-June.

But the average petrol price may not climb as high after oil-producing countries agreed to release an extra 411,000 barrels a day to the market next month.