Fears Australian petrol prices to hit record highs as crude oil price peaks
Petrol prices in Australian capital cities could be set to hit all-time highs as crude oil prices hit their highest prices in four years.
Overnight Brent crude oil hit a session high of $US 84.60, marking the highest point since October 2018.
US West Texas Intermediate crude oil – or WTI – hit a session high of $US 82.18, marking its highest point since late 2014.
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Petrol prices in Sydney are tipped to hit record highs as crude oil prices explode. iStock
Singapore Mogas 95, which accounts for around 50 per cent of the price of fuel at Australian bowsers, is now trading more than $90 a barrel
A dramatic rebound in the global economy is causing demand for crude oil to skyrocket, the NRMA's Peter Khoury explained.
And those likely to be affected the most will be ordinary Australians filling up at the bowser.
"The average price in Sydney is $1.63. It's gone up by more than 10 cents in the last three days. The average price in the other capital cities that all have price cycles is all starting to go up as well," Mr Khoury told 9News.com.au.
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US West Texas Intermediate crude oil – or WTI – hit a session high of $US 82.18, marking its highest point since late 2014. AP
"Sydney's average price is likely to breach $1.70 by the end of this week which will be the highest average price on record.
"The other capital cities with price cycles have already broken their highest average prices for regular unleaded."
The ACCC's June Quarter report found that average retail petrol prices in 2020-21 were the lowest in 22 years when adjusted for inflation.
But as Mr Khoury explains, fuel prices are on the verge of exploding as global demand spikes to meet the reopening of economies around the world.
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The world's economy - like this large steel plant in China - is rebounding strongly after COVID-19 shutdowns. Getty
"It's a particularly difficult time for families who have to fill up. Last year we saw record-low prices because when COVID hit the global economy effectively shut down," Mr Khoury said.
"You had a situation where demand for oil plummeted and we started to see record low prices.
"Well now we've got the counter to that – oil prices are increasing consistently as the world opens up and gets more vaccinated the demand increases significantly."
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