According to the Australian Institute of Petroleum, the national average Australian price of unleaded petrol rose by 0.5 cents a litre to 154.6 c/l in the week to February 2. The metropolitan price rose by 0.9 c/l to 154.0 c/l, while the regional average price fell by 0.2 c/l to 155.9 c/l.
Average unleaded petrol prices across states and territories over the past week were: Sydney (up 0.9 cents to 153.2 c/l), Melbourne (up 0.7 cents to 152.7 c/l), Brisbane (up 0.2 cents to 157.9 c/l), Adelaide (up 2.4 cents to 153.1 c/l), Perth (up 0.7 cents to 153.9 c/l), Darwin (unchanged to 172.9 c/l), Canberra (fell by 0.2 cents at 158.2 c/l) and Hobart (unchanged at 161.8 c/l).
Today, the national average wholesale (terminal gate) unleaded petrol price stands at 146.55 c/l, up 1.6 cents a litre over the week and up over 12 cents since the lows in early November.
Last week the key Singapore unleaded petrol price fell by US50c (0.4 per cent) to US$118.00 a barrel. But in Australian dollar terms the Singapore gasoline price fell by $1.75 last week to $134.41 a barrel or 84.69 cents a litre.
Figures from MotorMouth show that petrol prices hit their highs in the discounting cycle late last week across most capital cities and are likely to ease to their lows over the next 7-10 days.
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific's leading geo-politics and economics portal.
He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.
