Petrol prices topped $2.40 a litre across swathes of Sydney’s eastern and inner-west suburbs on Wednesday, a sign the four-day Middle East war is already hurting Australian consumers.
The price jumps of around 20 per cent over the past week sparked queues at some service stations as motorists scrambled to fill up over concerns that prices may jump further or shortages .
In Sydney’s eastern suburb of Randwick, premium unleaded prices at a Shell station were as high as $2.49 per litre, with other fuel retailers also charging more than $2.40 per litre across large parts of the city’s sprawling suburbs.
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According to the New South Wales Fuel Check app, the average price for Premium unleaded near Sydney’s city centre is $2.18, with cheaper E10 unleaded petrol at an average of $1.95 per litre on Wednesday morning.
Viva Energy as the operator of 643 Reddy Express service stations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson blamed the price rises on the closure of oil refineries. “Petrol prices wouldn’t be spiking if we refined our own!” she wrote on X.
Oil jumps
The shock rise comes after an Iranian drone damaged a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) export hub on Tuesday to stoke fears that a hot war in the Middle East could limit supplies of oil and gas from the region.
Benchmark Brent Crude prices rose around 5 per cent overnight on Tuesday to $US81.50 a barrel and have now jumped around 13 per cent since the start of the conflict.
“The war in the Middle East intensified, with Israel launching a new wave of strikes against Iranian infrastructure, while Iran continued to target countries across the region,” said Westpac’s economics team.
“President Trump announced that the US government would provide maritime insurance and Navy protection for trade in the Middle East.”
Westpac’s economics team said Brent Crude prices could surge as high as $US185 a barrel in a worst-case scenario of the Middle East war lasting more than three months, adding $1-a-litre to the cost of petrol.
“The longer and more intense the disruption, the greater the real economy cost and hit to sentiment,” Westpac said.
On Tuesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers wrote to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s acting chair Mick Keogh asking his agency to monitor potential petrol price gouging.
“I would expect the ACCC as the independent regulator enforcing Australia’s competition and consumer laws to investigate any concerns arising about misrepresentations regarding petrol prices, false and misleading conduct or anti-competitive conduct in petrol markets, and to take appropriate action,” Dr Chalmers said.
