Australia’s largest cities have experienced the highest petrol price in four years, according to the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) latest petrol monitoring report.

For Australia’s largest cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, the average price of petrol in 2017-2018 increased overall by 10 per cent compared to the previous year. 

Specifically over the past three months, the petrol price reached up to 145 cents per litre (cpl) following the seven per cent increase. 

ACCC Chair Rod Sims said that some of the major reasons for this included increased oil prices, decreased Australian exchange rates and dollar, and restricted supply in the market.  

“The major factors driving higher prices were an increase in international crude oil and refined petrol prices, and a lower AUD-USD exchange rate,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said. 

“In late-2016 OPEC, and some other crude oil producing countries, agreed to cut production. This restricted supply into the market, which has clearly started to bite through steadily increasing petrol prices in the past financial year,” Mr Sims said. 

“A weaker Aussie dollar has also increased costs for wholesalers buying petrol for the Australian market, which flows through to consumers who pay for this at the pump,” he added. 

In addition, the Australian petrol retailers have also increased the gross margin for every litre sold, adding the price pressure on motorists. 

The gross margin hit the highest number over the last 16 years in 2017-2018, with 12.4 cpl in the five largest cities. 

“Current gross retail margins in the five largest cities are now over 50 per cent above the 16 year average since the ACC began tracking this data,” Mr Sims said. 

Brisbane continues to have the highest price for petrol out of the five major cities.