What is currently happening with regular unleaded petrol prices?

In general terms, Australian petrol prices move in line with the international benchmark. For regular unleaded petrol the benchmark is the spot price of Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded, which is the price of petrol in Singapore, not crude oil. The price in Singapore is used as the benchmark for Australian prices because Singapore is the closest major refining and marketing centre to Australia. It is the largest source of imported petrol into Australia and has large storage and refining capacity in the Asia-Pacific region.

For this reason, the ACCC tracks Australia's petrol prices against what is happening with the Mogas 95 benchmark. This indicates what is happening with petrol prices in Australia.

Recent changes in the retail price of unleaded petrol

The chart below illustrates how the price of unleaded petrol has been tracking against the benchmark for the last three months. The chart shows:

• average retail unleaded petrol prices in the five largest cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth) represented by the blue line; and
• average Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded prices in Australian cents per litre (lagged by ten days) represented by the orange line.

Note: The retail and Mogas 95 Unleaded price series' are based on seven-day rolling averages.

Sources: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Informed Sources, Reserve Bank of Australia and Platts, the energy information division of McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Changes in Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded prices influence retail prices through their impact on wholesale prices. As a result, wholesale prices in the five largest cities (lagged by five days) have been included in chart 2. These are represented by the green line. The only difference between charts 1 and 2 is the addition of daily wholesale prices in chart 2.

Chart 2: Average retail unleaded petrol prices and wholesale prices in the five largest cities and Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded prices - 23 October 2012 to 22 January 2013

Note: The retail and Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded price series' are based on seven-day rolling averages. The wholesale price series is based on average daily prices.

Sources: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Informed Sources, Reserve Bank of Australia, Australian Institute of Petroleum and Platts, the energy information division of McGraw-Hill, Inc