The median unleaded price across New South Wales is 198.7 c/L and diesel is 242.4 c/L, as at 16 August 2026. Unleaded is 8.0 c/L cheaper than a week ago. That makes NSW the second cheapest of 8 jurisdictions reporting, 2.2 c/L below the middle of the pack.
Every figure below is the median price across all reporting New South Wales sites, blended between Greater Sydney and the rest of the state by population. A median, not an average, so a few sites pricing far above the rest cannot drag the headline up.
| Fuel | Median c/L | vs a week ago |
|---|---|---|
| Unleaded 91 | 198.7 | -8.0 c/L |
| Diesel | 242.4 | -5.3 c/L |
Diesel is running 43.7 c/L above unleaded in New South Wales. Diesel does not follow the discounting cycles petrol does, so this gap moves with wholesale costs rather than with retailer pricing rounds.
Over the 34 days since 14 July 2026, unleaded in New South Wales has ranged between 169.7 and 208.3 c/L, a spread of 38.6 c/L. The typical day-to-day move is 1.5 c/L, and the largest single day move was +3.5 c/L on 4 August 2026.
Regional New South Wales is paying 8.0 c/L more than Greater Sydney today. Across the whole window the gap has averaged 5.7 c/L over 34 days. Greater Sydney is the ABS Greater Capital City area; everything outside it counts as regional.
| Area | Unleaded c/L | Sites reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney | 195.9 | 843 |
| Rest of NSW | 203.9 | 1130 |
Sub-averages as at 16 August 2026.
Not on a weekly clock. Across 4 weeks of our own NSW readings, no single weekday stands out: the strongest is Wednesday, and it averages only +1.6 c/L, nowhere near enough to plan a fill-up around. That does not mean prices here are flat. The ACCC puts Sydney's cycle at ~2 weeks, which is longer than a week, so it cannot show up as a weekday pattern at all - what matters in New South Wales is where you are in the cycle, not which day you fill up.
| Day | Average change c/L |
|---|---|
| Sunday | +0.5 |
| Monday | +0.9 |
| Tuesday | +1.3 |
| Wednesday | +1.6 |
| Thursday | +0.9 |
| Friday | +0.8 |
| Saturday | +0.3 |
Mean day-over-day change in the NSW unleaded median, by day of the week, over 33 consecutive-day pairs. A short window: treat it as this season's pattern rather than a permanent one. Cycle lengths quoted above are the ACCC Petrol Price Cycles in the 5 Largest Cities; the weekday figures are our own.
The Australian Institute of Petroleum publishes a terminal gate price for New South Wales: what fuel costs leaving the terminal, before a retailer's own costs and margin. On 14 August 2026 that was 192.0 c/L for unleaded, against a pump median of 198.7 c/L - a gap of 6.7 c/L, and 7.1 c/L on diesel. That gap is not profit. It covers freight from the terminal, the site's own running costs, and whatever margin the retailer is taking.
The wholesale figure is published on weekdays and normally runs a day or two behind the pump figure, so the two dates above will rarely match exactly. The full build-up from barrel to bowser.
Every figure on this page comes from NSW FuelCheck, run by the NSW Government. It is a mandatory reporting scheme published near real time, covering more than 2,500 sites across New South Wales, the ACT and Tasmania. We read it twice a day, take the median across the sites reporting, and publish it unaltered. We do not model, smooth or forecast the price.
That data is published under CC BY-SA 4.0. That is a share-alike licence, so this page and anything derived from it carry the same terms.
Fuel excise is a Commonwealth tax, so it is identical in New South Wales and everywhere else. It returned to 53.7 c/L on 3 August 2026, worth up to about 18.8 c/L at the pump once GST is applied. Differences between states come from freight, competition and local costs, never from tax. What fuel excise costs per tank.
The national tracker: all eight jurisdictions, every fuel type, and what makes up a litre.
How these figures are derived: pricing methodology. Ways to pay less: save on fuel.