Petrol and diesel prices in New South Wales today

How have NSW petrol prices moved?

Over the 79 days since 14 July 2026, unleaded in New South Wales has ranged between 169.7 and 240.6 c/L, a spread of 70.9 c/L. The typical day-to-day move is 1.2 c/L, and the largest single day move was +6.3 c/L on 16 September 2026. That sits in the middle half of the 8 jurisdictions reporting, which are closely packed - on volatility alone there is little to separate New South Wales from most of the country. The median also stood still on 4 of the last 14 days. That is the panel rather than the market: a median only moves when the middle site reprices, and New South Wales has few enough reporting sites for that to be a quiet event.

Is petrol cheaper in Sydney or regional NSW?

Regional New South Wales is paying 2.0 c/L more than Greater Sydney today. Across the whole window the gap has averaged 4.0 c/L over 79 days, the third narrowest of the 5 jurisdictions publishing a split. It does not always run that way, though: across the window the gap ranged from -1.0 to 8.0 c/L, and on at least one day Greater Sydney was the dearer of the two. Greater Sydney and the rest of New South Wales are not discounting in step, so in New South Wales the country premium is a tendency worth checking rather than a rule to plan around. Greater Sydney is the ABS Greater Capital City area; everything outside it counts as regional.

Sub-averages as at 30 September 2026.

Does New South Wales have a petrol price cycle?

Not on a weekly clock. Across 11 weeks of our own NSW readings, no single weekday stands out: the strongest is Wednesday, and it averages only +1.3 c/L, nowhere near enough to plan a fill-up around. There is a plainer reason than the window being short. The ACCC reports that petrol price cycles have mostly not occurred in Sydney since late February 2026, so for the whole period we hold clean NSW figures there has been no cycle to show up - which is what our own readings independently find.

How Sydney normally behaves, per the ACCC: Prices increase sharply over a short period, then decrease gradually over a longer one before the process repeats. The ACCC put the Sydney cycle at around 5 weeks across 2025, with recent cycles running 28 to 39 days. Its guidance on timing a fill-up here: No cycle running to time. Compare nearby sites instead.

Mean day-over-day change in the NSW unleaded median, by day of the week, over 78 consecutive-day pairs. A short window: treat it as this season's pattern rather than a permanent one. The cycle length, the description of Sydney and the timing guidance above are the ACCC Petrol Price Cycles in the 5 Largest Cities, last reviewed 18 August 2026; the weekday figures and the movement statistics are our own.

What do NSW retailers charge above the wholesale price?

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 30 September 2026 that was 232.2 c/L for unleaded, against a pump median of 239.6 c/L - a gap of 7.4 c/L, and 20.1 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.

Wholesale in Sydney: 232.2 c/L on 30 September 2026, down 1.4 c/L on a week earlier. Direction steady: the latest five trading days against the five before, +1.1 per cent. How the direction is called.

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.

Where these NSW fuel prices come from

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 the same in every state

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.

How these figures are derived: pricing methodology. Ways to pay less: save on fuel. Timing a fill-up in NSW: should I fill up today?