No petrol price relief in the near future

MOTORISTS are unlikely to see any bowser relief in the foreseeable future with the benchmark Singapore gasoline price hitting a record high last week.

The Australian Institute of Petroleum says the national average unleaded petrol price climbed by 2.1 cents a litre last week to 199.0 cents a litre.

Prices have risen in seven of the past eight weeks.

The national average wholesale price of Terminal Gate Price of unleaded petrol gained 4 cents in the past week to 193.8c/l.

The wholesale price has risen by about 46 cents a litre since the recent low on April 14.

CommSec says that higher-than-expected US inflation figures could end up being a godsend for motorists.

“The fear is that central banks like the US may need to aggressively lift interest rates to control inflation. That means slower economic growth and weaker oil demand and potentially lower oil prices,” CommSec chief economist Craig James says.

“The other positive for Aussie motorists is that there are fresh Covid lockdowns issued for parts of Shanghai as well as mass testing for the virus being applied in Beijing. These developments may serve to slow the Chinese economy and thus cap oil demand and oil prices.”

In the short-term, Mr James said the weaker Aussie dollar against the greenback was likely to boost the cost of refined petroleum.

According to MotorMouth, Melbourne had the most expensive unleaded petrol in the country at 215.8 cents per litre, while Perth had the cheapest at 189.2 cents per litre.