Via the Herald Sun:
UNLEADED petrol prices in Melbourne surged as high as 167.9c a litre on Monday, in the biggest hip-pocket hit at the bowser in a decade.
About half of the metropolitan petrol stations monitored by the RACV had moved to the new high price by Monday afternoon.
Leading fuel data source MotorMouth confirmed prices at individual sites were the highest since mid-2008, when some outlets sold unleaded fuel for about $1.70 a litre.
Melbourne’s peak-and-trough fuel cycle — where costs climb, then slowly ease to a discount price, before spiking again — is now in its increasing phase.
The price has literally shot off the latest COMSEC chart:
Same with this one:
Retail is in the gun again.
It could be worse, though. The oil price price sets the largest volumes for the Asian LNG contract market. If the planned LNG imports were in place today, and domestic gas reservation were dead, then the local gas price would now be about $18Gj instead of $9Gj. Your gas bill would be about to double and electricity prices to skyrocket as well.
Not only could the poor not afford to drive a car, they could not afford to stay home, either.
