Petrol prices tipped to reach $1.60

Sam Hall
June 25, 2013

Prices at the pump set to soar to a five-year high in the wake of weakening Australian dollar.

A NRMA forecast has predicted the price of petrol could rise close to a $1.60 a litre.

Sydney motorists have been advised to fill up at the petrol bowser in the coming days ahead of a five-year price high.

The NRMA has forecasted unleaded petrol could reach $1.58 per litre during the high point of the next cycle – the highest average since September 2008.

Australia’s plummeting dollar and the rising cost of Mogas or Singapore oil (where Australia’s oil is sourced from) have been blamed for the sudden spike. The Aussie dollar regained some ground overnight and was trading at 92.49 US cents at 7am AEST.

NRMA spokesman Daniel Stanton said motorists should monitor prices during the coming days, with petrol expected to reach a low of $1.42 at the low point of the current cycle.

“Our advice is that if prices are expected to fall to $1.42, when motorists see petrol at $1.43 they know they are just about at the end of the cycle and they know it’s going to rise to $1.58 pretty soon,” he said.

“Petrol prices are fairly impossible to predict and the only thing we can be fairly certain of is the low point of the cycle and what price petrol is going to fall to and what they’re going to jump to at the start of the next cycle.”

The price high is expected to coincide with the school holiday period. Today’s average metropolitan price in Sydney is $1.48.6.
In addition to the petrol spike, diesel prices in Sydney should rise above $1.47 per litre this week, while LPG prices should remain steady – under 65 cents – for the next seven days.