Petrol prices hit fresh four-year low
Australian petrol prices have fallen to their lowest level in more than four years, but analysts warn they are unlikely to go much lower.
CommSec quotes figures from the Australian Institute of Petroleum which show the national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 4.2 cents per litre in the week of Christmas and another 2.3 cents in the seven days to January 4.
That has left the national average price at 121.9 cents per litre, the lowest since September 12 2010.
Metropolitan prices were averaging 117.3 cents per litre, while regional prices tended to be much higher at an average 131.4 cents per litre.
Adelaide retained the cheapest average petrol price at 112.3 cents per litre, while Sydney and Melbourne were just over 114 cents, Brisbane and Perth around $1.20, Canberra $1.34, Hobart a couple of cents higher than that and Darwin the most expensive city at $146.7.
However, CommSec's Craig James said that Australian retail and wholesale prices were now matching the falls in the benchmark Singapore refinery prices, meaning that there was little scope for further price falls unless oil prices kept sliding.
"Unless global prices fall further, Australian motorists can't expect to reap much more in savings at the petrol pump," he wrote in a note on the figures.
"Gross retail margins appear unsustainably low in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, but remain high in Darwin and Hobart."
Wholesale prices in Australia appear to have already stabilised, edging up to 112.4 cents a litre from a four-year low of 111.7 cents on Christmas Eve.
However, serious price rises also appear unlikely as Singapore gasoline fell back towards five-and-a-half-year lows, with a 7.1 per cent slide last week to $US65.30 a barrel.
In Australian dollar terms, Singapore gasoline prices (the basis for most Australian wholesale pricing) fell 7.3 per cent last week to 50.53 cents a litre, the lowest level since the end of September 2009.
Diesel prices have also been failing to match the petrol price falls, with the fuel stuck at a national average of 140 cents per litre, down by just 3.2 cents over the past two weeks.
City diesel-powered vehicle drivers are not faring much better than their country counterparts, with just a two cent gap between urban and regional prices, in contrast to the large petrol price gap.
