Fears rising petrol rises could break records

Australians could soon be paying over $2 a litre at the pump, with an industry expert saying petrol prices are “chaotic” and “volatile”.

Every Australian motorist could soon be paying over $2 a litre at the pump, as concerns grow the nation’s rising petrol prices could break records.

The Australian Institute of Petroleum revealed the average retail price of petrol last week was 199.1 cents a litre, a massive rise of 7.6 per cent from the week before.

In major cities like Sydney ($2.03), Melbourne ($2.05) and Brisbane ($2.06), the average petrol price exceeded $2, while it also crossed that barrier on average for the whole of Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

All Australian motorists could soon be paying $2 on average at the pump. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

It comes after the fuel excise for petrol and diesel was halved for six months in this year’s federal budget after Russia‘s war in Ukraine affected supply.

This resulted in the average price of petrol sinking to as low as $1.60 a litre during April.

But now prices are exceeding the previous eye-watering amounts reached in March, with NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury telling Sunrise on Tuesday it is impossible to know what will happen next.

“What we do know in 2022 is it is impossible to predict what prices are going to do; it is the most volatile we have ever seen them – It is now chaotic,” he said.

“There really is no way of knowing what is going to happen in the next 24 hours, let alone the next week.”

He said a recent oil refinery fire has contributed to soaring prices, but is hopeful the wholesale price will not pass previous records.

“We saw them jump $10 per barrel a couple of days ago off the back of a fire at an oil refinery in South Korea, but those prices have now come back a bit and we are hoping that will be enough to stop records from being broken,” Mr Khoury said.

“But again, who knows what happens. The word hope is absolutely critical.”

NRMA spokesperson Peter Khoury hopes rising petrol prices will not break previous records. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Bianca De Marchi

Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles acknowledged on ABC Breakfast the cost of petrol is “difficult” for Australians.

He said the issue is symptomatic of wider economic problems, and that the country is facing “a cost of living crisis”, which the newly elected government is trying to fix.

“That doesn’t happen overnight … but the job does start overnight,” Mr Marles said.

“This is a big challenge for the country and you can’t repair a decade of economic neglect – which we’ve seen under the former government – in a week, but we are going to start the job today.”

The government will present a second 2022 budget in October, a month after the halved fuel excise ends.

Mr Khoury’s advice to consumers in the meantime is to put in the effort to find the cheapest petrol station near them.

“If you are looking to save, research. That is the most important thing. When you’re going to fill up, before you get in, get on the apps that have real-time data,” he said.

“Those apps or websites show the price of every service station in real-time and when you are living in a city where the gap is $0.40 between the cheapest and most expensive, you will save way more doing that than looking at a price.”

Originally published as Fears rising petrol rises could break records