MOTORISTS received a petrol jolt at the weekend when the pump price soared to almost $1.50 a litre in most Melbourne suburbs.

The price jumped 18c to $149.9 a litre in less than 24 hours and fuel price experts laid the blame squarely at supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths.

Independent petrol market analyst David Cumming said consumers should ignore the spike and wait for the price to fall again.

'The jump at the end of the discount cycle is just excessive," Mr Cumming said.

"Ignore this price if you don't need fuel. Don't fill up. Frankly we all know the price will drop down by at least 10c over the next few days."

Mr Cumming said the gap between the highest and lowest fuel prices in a weekly cycle used to be about 7c.

"The gap has got bigger purely because of the introduction of these discount coupons by the supermarket chains," he said. "These coupons work against the consumer at the upper end of the cycle. They are not worth the paper they are printed on."

Fueltrac general manager Geoff Trotter said $149.9 appeared to be the new national marker price at the top of the cycle.

"The price is normally lead up by Shell Coles, followed very quickly by Caltex Woolworths, then BP and then Mobil and the independents," Mr Trotter said.

Service Station Association chief executive officer Ron Bowden said there was no shortage of oil on world markets and the price was driven up by speculators.

He said about 7c a litre was being added to the normal weekly cycle jump.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victori...6016767994

That price is still way below what we in the UK are paying for our petrol. At present exchange rates that's below £1 per litre. Diesel is even higher.

We are currently at around £1.40 per litre, and there is talk of it hitting £2 a litre soon due to the Libyan situation.

(03-06-2011 12:27 PM)forwardone Wrote:  He said about 7c a litre was being added to the normal weekly cycle jump.

No weekly cycle down here in Tassi....Price don't drop on a Monday and rise by Thursday....Stays the same all week...
Unleaded here is $1.42 on average....
East coast which is always cheaper is at $1.37....$1.33 if you got a 4c voucher from the supermarkets....