Industry Welcomes ACCC Petrol Price Report

The oil industry has welcomed the ACCC’s report of its investigation of petrol price movements from January to August 1999.

The ACCC’s investigation has confirmed that increases in petrol prices have been lower than would be justified by increases in world oil prices.

The key findings of the ACCC’s report are:

• the average capital cities unleaded petrol retail prices increased by around 1.8 cents per litre less than international prices;
• the average country unleaded petrol prices increased by about 3.7 cents per litre less than the rise in international prices; and
• the city-country price differential decreased by 1.9 cents per litre.

The ACCC’s report has confirmed once again the highly competitive nature of Australia’s oil industry.

Australians continue to enjoy petrol prices that are amongst the lowest in the OECD countries. Excluding petrol taxes, Australia enjoys the lowest prices in the OECD.