David Scutt
On the back of rebounding crude prices and recent weakness in the Australian dollar, it hasn’t taken long for Australian petrol prices to start responding by turning higher.
According to Commsec, citing data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the average price of unleaded petrol nationally rose by 3.9 cents to 118.9 cents per litre in the week ending May 15.
By capital city, average unleaded petrol prices rose in Melbourne (+13.0 cents), Brisbane (+12.1 cents), Adelaide (+12.7 cents) and Perth (+1.2 cents) but fell in Sydney (-7.5 cents). Prices in Canberra, Darwin and Hobart were relatively unchanged.
Suggesting that average fuel prices will likely trend higher in the short term, Singaporean gasoline rates, priced in Australian dollar terms, rose by $5.35 a barrel, or 7.1%, to $80.41 a barrel last week, leaving it at a fresh six-month high.
“Given Australia increasingly imports oil from Asia, the lower Aussie dollar means higher fuel prices,” wrote Commsec’s chief economist, Craig James, earlier today.
“The national average petrol price will continue to drift higher from near the 115-120 cents a litre range to 120-125 cents a litre, but prices are still low in historical terms.”
Extracted in full from Business Insider Australia.
