The median unleaded price across South Australia is 200.9 c/L and diesel is 241.5 c/L, as at 16 August 2026. Unleaded is 8.9 c/L cheaper than a week ago. That makes SA the fourth cheapest of 8 jurisdictions reporting, level with the middle of the pack.
Every figure below is the median price across all reporting South Australia sites, blended between Greater Adelaide 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 | 200.9 | -8.9 c/L |
| Diesel | 241.5 | -7.6 c/L |
Diesel is running 40.6 c/L above unleaded in South Australia. 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 South Australia has ranged between 167.0 and 210.0 c/L, a spread of 43.0 c/L. The typical day-to-day move is 1.6 c/L, and the largest single day move was +5.0 c/L on 4 August 2026.
Regional South Australia is paying 9.0 c/L more than Greater Adelaide today. Across the whole window the gap has averaged 7.5 c/L over 34 days. Greater Adelaide is the ABS Greater Capital City area; everything outside it counts as regional.
| Area | Unleaded c/L | Sites reporting |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Adelaide | 198.9 | 327 |
| Rest of SA | 207.9 | 290 |
Sub-averages as at 16 August 2026.
Not on a weekly clock. Across 4 weeks of our own SA readings, no single weekday stands out: the strongest is Tuesday, and it averages only +1.8 c/L, nowhere near enough to plan a fill-up around. That does not mean prices here are flat. The ACCC puts Adelaide's cycle at ~2 weeks (fortnightly), which is longer than a week, so it cannot show up as a weekday pattern at all - what matters in South Australia is where you are in the cycle, not which day you fill up.
| Day | Average change c/L |
|---|---|
| Sunday | +0.5 |
| Monday | +1.7 |
| Tuesday | +1.8 |
| Wednesday | +0.5 |
| Thursday | +1.0 |
| Friday | +0.6 |
| Saturday | +1.4 |
Mean day-over-day change in the SA 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 South Australia: what fuel costs leaving the terminal, before a retailer's own costs and margin. On 14 August 2026 that was 191.1 c/L for unleaded, against a pump median of 200.9 c/L - a gap of 9.8 c/L, and 7.6 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 SA Fuel Pricing Information Scheme, run by the Office of Consumer and Business Services. It is a mandatory reporting scheme requiring a price change to be notified within 30 minutes, run on the same platform as Queensland's. 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.
Based on or contains data provided by the State of South Australia (Office of Consumer and Business Services).
Fuel excise is a Commonwealth tax, so it is identical in South Australia 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.