Where every cent of your fuel money goes, how prices compare across states, and what's coming next. Sourced from government databases, refreshed twice daily.
Live pump prices by state, one fuel type at a time - pick the fuel below, and each row is set against that fuel's national average, currently 197.9 c/L for ULP 91 and 238.7 for diesel. Each figure is the statewide median station price, capital and regional areas weighted by where people live - the same series as the national average. Australian pump prices follow the Singapore Mogas 95 benchmark with a 1 to 2 week lag (live benchmark prices).
Median station prices, population-weighted across the states that report each type. Premium and LPG are retail-only, so they draw on fewer feeds than ULP and diesel.
Victoria is a day behind. The Victorian Government holds fuel price data back from third parties for a rolling 24 hours, so the most recent Victorian prices anyone outside the official Servo Saver app can see are yesterday's. We date that row for the day those prices were actually charged rather than the day we collected them, which is why it reads a day earlier than the rest of the table. The delay is applied at the source, not by FuelCrisis. How this affects the national average.
The averages on this page are median station prices - the price at the station in the middle of the range, not a straight sum-and-divide. Our feeds include every station, remote outlets included, so a straight average would overstate what a typical driver pays. Official figures (WA FuelWatch, AIP, ACCC) use straight averages over different sets of stations, so ours can sit 1 to 2 c/L away. That difference is methodological, not an error. Capital = ABS Greater Capital City area; regional = rest of state. Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT report a single statewide figure and are not split. How we calculate this.
National average ULP 91 price over key timeframes.
Population-weighted median (ABS jurisdictional populations). VIC data may lag up to 24h (govt-imposed).
| Period | ULP 91 c/L | vs now |
|---|---|---|
| 2 August 2026 | 197.9 | - |
| ~1 week ago | 188.1 | +9.8c |
| ~1 month ago | 170.8 | +27.1c |
| Pre-crisis baseline | 171.0 | +26.9c |
Month-ago comparisons currently reach back across our 14 July methodology change (means to medians) and can include up to 1 to 2 c/L that is methodological, not price movement.
A weekly 65 L tank now costs roughly $17 more than it did before the crisis.
National retail petrol median moved from 170.7 to 197.6 cents per litre over 19 daily readings. The chart is drawn on a 170 to 200 cents per litre scale in 5 cent gridlines, not from zero. That is about 26.6 cents per litre above the pre-crisis baseline of 171.0 cents per litre, roughly 17 dollars more on a weekly 65 litre tank. The line begins on 14 July 2026, when the population-weighted median methodology began; earlier crisis prices used a simpler basis and are not spliced in. A scheduled excise increase of about 18.81 cents per litre takes effect on 3 Aug, marked beyond the right edge of the data window.
The line is the daily national retail petrol median, population-weighted across the state feeds. It begins on 14 July 2026, when that median methodology started; earlier crisis prices were measured on a simpler mean basis and are not spliced in, since doing so would add a 1 to 2 c/L step that is method, not market. The crisis-cost figure above compares today's median with the pre-crisis level, not with the start of this line. The 1 July excise step (about 17.6 c/L, like the 3 August one) falls before this window, so it is noted here rather than marked on the chart.
Capital city petrol prices follow a retailer-driven cycle; timing your fill-up against it saves money. Diesel does not cycle, it follows wholesale costs.
Just before the next sharp rise, typically at the bottom of the decline phase.
During the decline phase, 7-10 days after the last price spike.
Difficult to time precisely due to variable cycle length. Buy during any sustained decline.
Tuesday (day before the typical Wednesday spike).
Towards the end of the fortnightly decline phase.
No predictable pattern. Prices are generally more stable than cycling cities.
No predictable pattern. Watch for wholesale price drops which flow through within 1-2 weeks.
No predictable pattern. Prices may dip slightly when Sydney is at its cycle trough.
Timing tip: cycles are irregular and can be pushed around by wider market swings, so the exact bottom is hard to time. If you see a price you consider good, filling up then rather than holding out for the cycle low is the lower-risk approach.
Built from live feeds and totalling about $1.98/L: crude from Brent and the AUD/USD rate, the refining, freight and wholesale block measured from the AIP wholesale price, the retail margin from the pump-to-wholesale gap, and excise and GST from the legislated rates. Prices vary by location and cycle. Open any layer for the full story.
How this is sourced: crude, excise and GST come from official feeds and the legislated rates. The combined refining, freight and wholesale margin is measured as the AIP wholesale terminal gate price (GST and excise removed) minus crude, and the retail margin as the pump average minus that wholesale price. Only the split of the wholesale block into refining, freight and wholesale is our editorial estimate, as no public feed separates them daily.
GST is 10 per cent of the pre-GST total including excise (ATO mechanism), so the GST line moves with both crude prices and excise policy.
The bottom line: Only 82c of every litre is the actual oil. Government taxes (excise plus GST) account for roughly 28 per cent of today's pump price. When politicians talk about "high oil prices", that's only part of the picture.
Model your annual fuel spend and see what would cut it.
How these figures are derived: pricing methodology.
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