Christmas fuel price cycle rising despite big falls in wholesale price
Sydney’s price cycle is working against motorists this Christmas with prices having risen almost 10 cents per litre over the last week and expected to continue rising into Christmas, according to the NRMA.
The average fuel price in Sydney today (Tuesday 20/12/22) is currently 179.4 cents per litre (CPL) for regular unleaded and is expected to continue rising over the next week to just over 190 CPL, before falling again. Prices in Brisbane (173.4 CPL) and Melbourne (176.5 CPL) are also rising.
For many families going away, the NRMA recommends using the My NRMA App before filling up as some regional centres will be cheaper than Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane by the end of the Christmas long weekend.
Adelaide (166.1 CPL) and Perth (161.6 CPL) are at the bottom of their cycles while Canberra (179 CPL), Hobart (182 CPL) and Darwin (179 CPL) are all slowly falling.
Sydney’s wholesale price of 161.7 is now the lowest it has been since October and has fallen almost 40 cents per litre since reaching record highs in June. Mogas – Australia’s international benchmark price – has fallen 46 per cent to $US 87.5 a barrel.
NRMA spokesperson said timing was everything when filling up these Christmas holidays as Sydney prices would slowly rise while regional centres were expected to continue falling.
“We want motorists to save at the bowser this Christmas because we’d rather you spend your money on your holiday than unnecessarily hand it over to the oil companies, that’s why checking the my NRMA app before filling up is so important,” Mr Khoury said.
“The majority of service station in Sydney are still selling regular unleaded for below 170 cents per litre so please do your research before falling up as those prices are going to rise with the price cycle before the price cycle turns again and we see prices drop to just over 160 cents per litre.
“Sydney will be slowly rising for the next week while regional NSW should slowly fall – depending on your location you may end up finding cheaper fuel at the back-end of your holidays so please do your research before filling up.”
The average price of diesel in Sydney remains stubbornly high at 209.5 CPL despite the international benchmark price for diesel – Gasoil – plummeting from its record highs of $US 186 a barrel to $US 114 a barrel.
The top five cheapest towns for regular unleaded across regional NSW today are:
1. Tweed Heads South 173.4
2. Wollongong 174.2
3. Wagga Wagga 175.7
4. Newcastle 176.6
5. Glen Innes 176.8
