Fill your tank NOW: Petrol prices in Australia could surge by nearly 10 cents a litre amid fears of a fuel shortage after attack on Saudi Arabian oil plants
- Drone attacks sparked huge fires at Aramco oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia
- There are fears the attack would end up in months of fuel shortage across world
- Australian fuel prices could soar up to 10 cents a litre following the drone attack
- It comes after a report indicated that a weak AUD is causing petrol prices to soar
Petrol prices could soon surge by nearly 10 cents a litre amid fears of a worldwide fuel shortage after a drone strike on Saudi Arabian oil plants.
Attacks on two plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry on Saturday knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output, or five per cent of global supply.
It remains unclear how King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will respond to the incident.
But there are fears as many as 150 million barrels a month could be lost due to the facility’s indefinite closure, resulting in soaring oil prices.
Peter Khoury from the NRMA told The Australian it’s normal for Australia to feel the effects of changing global oil prices.
In Perth, motorists have it easier with $1.35 a litre for petrol, while in Adelaide it could reach $1.47 a litre (stock)
With petrol prices predicted to rise by up to 20c a gallon, Australians could see a spike of up to 9 cents a litre at the bowser.
‘The sad reality is when something like this happens, more often than not it has an adverse affect on prices and we feel it here at home,’ he said.
The Australian government believes there is ‘no immediate threat’ to the country’s fuel supplies.
It comes just weeks after a new report claimed that the week Australian dollar has pushed petrol prices up (stock)
It comes just weeks after a new report suggested that the week Australian dollar has pushed petrol prices up.
The average annual price of petrol is currently 7.0 cents per litre higher than last year, according to the report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Retail petrol prices increased significantly in the June quarter of 2019, with average prices across the five largest cities sitting at 145.3 cents per litre.
In the five largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – unleaded petrol averaged at 141.2 cents per litre in the past year.
This was an increase of 6.7 cents per litre on the previous year and is also the highest annual average in the past five years.
The consumer watchdog says the main driver of the high petrol prices is the depreciation in the AUD-USD exchange rate.
Twice a year, excise rates on fuel are indexed twice a year in line with the consumer price index (CPI). All fuel prices in Australia include a GST rate of 10 per cent.
As of August 2019, unleaded petrol including regular or premium, and diesel have a fuel excise at $0.418 a litre.
For automotive LPG the price an excise of $0.137 per litre is charged.