Fears that rising gasoline prices could break records

In the near future, every Australian can pay more than $ 2 per liter, as there are growing fears that rising gasoline prices in the country could break records.

The Australian Petroleum Institute found that the average retail price for petrol last week was 199.1 cents per liter, up 7.6 per cent from the previous week.

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

This came after the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel in this year’s federal budget was halved for six months after Russia’s war in Ukraine affected supplies.

This led to the fact that the average price of gasoline in April fell to $ 1.60 per liter.

But now prices are above previous amounts reached in March, and NRMA spokesman Peter Huri told Sunrise on Tuesday that it was impossible to know what would happen next.

“We know that in 2022 it is impossible to predict what prices will do. This is the most unstable thing we have ever seen, now it is chaotic, ”he said.

“It’s really impossible to know what’s going to happen in the next 24 hours, let alone next week.”

He said the recent fire at the refinery had boosted prices, but hoped the wholesale price would not surpass previous records.

“We saw them jump by $ 10 a barrel a couple of days ago because of a fire at a refinery in South Korea, but now those prices have come back a little bit and we hope that will be enough to stop the records. “- said Mr. Huri.

“Hopefully now that will be enough to keep us from these record prices. But then again, who knows what’s going on.

“The word hope, which I mentioned there several times, is absolutely critical.”

Mr. Huri advised consumers to make an effort to find the cheapest gas station near them.

“If you want to save, research. This is the most important thing. If you are going to fill out before entering, go to programs that have real-time data, ”he said.

“These programs or websites show the price of each service station in real time, and if you live in a city where the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive is $ 0.40, you’ll save on that much more than looking at the price “.