{"id":765253,"date":"2026-06-28T06:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765253\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T06:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T06:57:13","slug":"australian-fuel-prices-petrol-and-diesel-costs-hit-four-month-lows-taking-them-back-to-pre-iran-war-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/765253\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian fuel prices: Petrol and diesel costs hit four-month lows, taking them back to pre-Iran war levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Australian fuel prices are back to levels not seen since before the Iran war began four months ago, delivering much-needed relief to motorists as steep cuts in global oil costs continue flowing through to local service stations.<\/p>\n

New price data reveals that average unleaded petrol prices in Sydney and Melbourne have slid below $1.56 a litre, while diesel has dropped under $1.78 a litre. This marks the cheapest that fuel has been since late February, when Iran started blocking crude oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf, causing huge increases in the cost of fuel and triggering a global energy crisis.<\/p>\n

\"FuelFuel prices have fallen to their lowest levels since the outbreak of the war in Iran.Steven Siewart.<\/p>\n

At today\u2019s prices, petrol and diesel are about 40 per cent cheaper than they were at the height of the conflict, when unleaded reached a record-high national average of $2.53 a litre and diesel soared to $3.19. Prices began easing following a preliminary ceasefire and progress towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 a vital maritime choke point off Iran\u2019s southern coast that handles up to 20 per cent of global oil trade.<\/p>\n

However, prices at the pump may not remain at these subdued levels for long. From Wednesday, motorists will face an immediate 16\u00a2-a-litre increase when the Albanese government reintroduces the fuel excise at a half rate.<\/p>\n

Global oil markets also remain on edge following flare-ups in hostilities in the Middle East, which could send prices higher yet again. Iran said on Saturday that it had launched strikes against American targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, raising questions about the status of talks to reach a final peace agreement.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Experts<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, experts say this month\u2019s steep falls in petrol and diesel prices have provided a critical economic buffer in Australia that will soften the blow of the government\u2019s partial fuel-excise reinstatement. Continued falls in Asian oil and refined fuel benchmarks that directly influence local fuel costs are also raising the chance of deeper price cuts to come.<\/p>\n

Tapis crude, the primary oil benchmark used in the Asia-Pacific, has fallen more than 20 per cent in the past two weeks alone and is now trading at $US76 a barrel \u2013 nearly the same as it was in February before the war began.<\/p>\n

Despite the addition of another 16\u00a2 a litre on Wednesday, fuel would remain at \u201crelatively affordable\u201d levels below $1.70 a litre for unleaded and below $2 for diesel, said Peter Khoury, a spokesman for the National Roads and Motorists\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose prices are not levels where it gets too much and people start to change their behaviour,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are in a better place than we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"US<\/a><\/p>\n

Analysts said oil prices had dropped due to signs of increased vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and expectations of a sharp rebound in oil supply. Investors were also pricing in the return of Venezuelan crude oil that was \u201chelping to plug the gap\u201d in thick, high-sulphur oil from the Middle East, known as heavy sour crude, said Ajay Parmer, head of energy at commodities research firm ICIS.<\/p>\n

But as continued hostilities threatened to undermine negotiations to end the war, Khoury cautioned that \u201cthings could change anytime\u201d and erase recent price falls. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what the back end of this will look like, or how long it will take,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Even if bowser prices did not rise significantly from here, the economic effects of the fuel price shock Australia experienced in March and April would linger, KPMG chief economist Brendan Rynne said. Second-round inflationary effects \u2013 the delayed consequences of higher petrol and diesel prices \u2013 had started showing up in elevated food and agricultural costs, and the cost of oil derivatives, such as plastic packaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an inflation perspective, we are now starting to see the secondary effects coming through, reflecting higher input costs of a couple of months ago,\u201d Rynne said.<\/p>\n

Although global oil prices have fallen sharply, the Asia-Pacific\u2019s main unleaded benchmark \u2013 Singapore Mogas 95 \u2013 is still trading above prewar levels, which influences petrol prices in Australia. Rynne said this was due to a drop-off in oil deliveries reaching Asia\u2019s refineries from the Middle East, and meant the federal government needed to continue working to secure priority access to spare petrol and diesel shipments to keep supplies and prices stable. \u201cWe still have challenges around getting our refined product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"NickNick Toscano<\/a> is a business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":765254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-765253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=765253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=765253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=765253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=765253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}