Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney petrol prices lift
Weekly Petrol Prices
- Petrol prices: According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 2.3 cents to a near 16-year low of 98.3 cents a litre last week (lowest since August 2004).
- East Coast & Adelaide petrol prices lift: According to data from MotorMouth, average daily unleaded retail petrol prices in Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney have lifted by between 2.9 and 33.4 cents a litre from the lows of the discounting cycle early last week. Petrol prices are back at $1.20 a litre in some regions.
- Regional prices: The Singapore benchmark gasoline price – the largest component of fuel prices paid by motorists – rose by 31.2 per cent or US$5.70 a barrel to US$24.00 a barrel last week. The Singapore gasoline price had hit 21-year lows of US$18.30 in the week ended April 24. In Australian dollar terms, the Singapore gasoline price rose by $8.31 – the most in 6 months – or 28.8 per cent to $37.16 a barrel or 23.37 cents a litre.
Movements in the petrol price can affect consumer spending, and in turn, prospects for retailers.
What does it all mean?
- Queenslanders that are making the most of an easing in COVID-19 restrictions over the Labour Day long weekend would’ve noticed that petrol prices in some suburbs and towns have hit $1.20 a litre. The same applies to Sydneysiders venturing to work this morning. Unleaded pump prices have also lifted to around $1.20 a litre in Sydney’s Inner West, Eastern Suburbs and North Shore. Why? Fuel retailers have begun lifting prices as discounting cycles finally ended early last week.
- In Melbourne, unleaded petrol prices hit 17-year lows today, averaging just 89.7 cents a litre. But prices are close to bottoming with bowser prices expected to lift later this week.
- But in a bizarre twist in Adelaide, average retail unleaded pump prices surged by 33.4 cents to 117.4 cents a litre between Tuesday and Friday last week, before falling back to 108.5 cents a litre today – so the lift in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne petrol prices may be similarly short-lived.
- Volatility continues in global oil markets. Crude oil prices posted their first weekly gain in a month as OPEC+ production cuts took effect on May 1 and demand showed tentative signs of recovering. Last week, the Brent crude price jumped by 23 per cent to US$26.44 a barrel and the US Nymex price lifted by 17 per cent to US$19.78 a barrel.
- Crude oil prices, however, fell in trading this morning as supply worries resurfaced amid rising US-China trade tensions. US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for the spread of the coronavirus. Brent crude prices were down around 1.8 per cent to near US$26.00 a barrel. And US Nymex crude futures fell by around 6.1 per cent to near US$18.60 a barrel.
What do the figures show?
Petrol prices
- According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average price of unleaded petrol fell by 2.3 cents to a near 16-year low of 98.3 cents a litre last week (since August 2004). The metropolitan price fell by 1.3 cents to 94.9 cents a litre and the regional price was down 4.5 cents to 105.1 cents a litre.
- Average unleaded petrol prices across states and territories over the past week were: Sydney (down 1.9 cents to 92.0 c/l), Melbourne (down by 5.2 cents to 91.5 c/l), Brisbane (up by 2.4 cents to 93.1 c/l), Adelaide (up by 5.5 cents to 103.8 c/l), Perth (down by 0.6 cents to 96.7 c/l), Darwin (down by 3.9 cents to 117.0 c/l), Canberra (down by 6.8 cents to 110.0 c/l) and Hobart (down by 3.2 cents to 124.3 c/l).
- The smoothed gross retail margin (2-month rolling average) for unleaded petrol rose from 23.89 cents a litre to a record high of 24.59 cents (24-month average: 13.7 cents a litre).
- The national average diesel petrol price fell by 3.2 cents to 3½-year lows of 121.8 cents a litre over the past week. The metropolitan price fell by 3.3 cents to 120.6 cents a litre and the regional price was down by 3.3 cents to 122.7 cents a litre.
- Last week the national average wholesale unleaded petrol price (terminal gate or TGP) was up by 2.0 cents to 83.9 cents per litre. Today, the average unleaded TGP stands at 86.4 cents a litre, up by 3.6 cents over the week. The terminal gate diesel price stands at 93.3 cents a litre, up by 0.2 cents over the week.
- MotorMouth records the following average retail prices for unleaded fuel in capital cities today: Sydney 93.9c; Melbourne 89.7c; Brisbane 99.2c; Adelaide 108.5c; Perth 88.2c; Canberra 102.4c; Darwin 116.1c; Hobart 123.3c.
- The key Singapore gasoline price rose by 31.2 per cent or US$5.70 a barrel to US$24.00 a barrel last week. The Singapore gasoline price hit 21-year lows of US$18.30 in the week ended April 24. In Australian dollar terms, the Singapore gasoline price rose by $8.31 – the most in 6 months – or 28.8 per cent to $37.16 a barrel or 23.37 cents a litre.
What is the importance of the economic data?
- Weekly petrol prices data are compiled by ORIMA Research on behalf of the Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP). National average retail prices are calculated as the weighted average of each State/Territory metropolitan and non-metropolitan retail petrol prices, with the weights based on the number of registered petrol vehicles in each of these regions. AIP data for retail petrol prices is based on available market data supplied by MotorMouth.
What are the implications for investors?
- Oil producers, traders and investors may have thought that the current downturn was behind them after crude oil prices showed tentative signs of stabilising last week. Oil markets found support as OPEC and its allies finally begun cutting production on May 1.
- In the US, oil supermajors Exxon Mobil and Chevron both pledged to cut output by 400,000 barrels per day in the June quarter. And while the US oil rig count fell to 325 – the lowest in almost 4 years – the number of active oil rigs outside of North America fell by the most on record last month, according to Baker Hughes.
- And in further positive news for oil investors, the easing of virus lockdown restrictions in some US states and cities worldwide provided encouragement that the global supply glut could ease over the Northern Hemisphere summer. Storage tanks are nearing capacity across the globe.
- But news that the US Oil Fund will halve its July Nymex futures position and bolster its December holdings – while also starting to take positions outside of the Nymex – continues to create volatility. And the resumption of trade tensions between the US and China is likely to be detrimental to oil market sentiment in the near term. China is the world’s largest energy consumer and a lift in US oil tariffs would further crimp crude oil demand.
- This week, oil giant Saudi Aramco is expected to announce its official selling prices for June crude sales. Earnings are announced by Apache, Marathon Oil, Enbridge and Noble Energy.