Do you ever get the feeling petrol prices have a will of their own? You see the barrel prices of Arab oil drop on the finance report and think “Ah good, petrol prices will come down soon.” But they don’t.

Asia-Pacific is the regional market for our petroleum products in Australia, with 20% of Australia’s fuel imported from Singapore and South Korea to meet our demand. The main benchmarks for crude oil pricing in the Asia-Pacific region are Tapis — often reported on the news — Dated Brent and Dubai. West Texas Intermediate (the US crude benchmark) does not affect our pricing.

A number of factors determine ‘MOPS95 Petrol’, Australia’s key pricing benchmark which is the price of unleaded fuel in Singapore:

1. Only crude oil prices for Asia-Pacific are considered;
2. Singapore is our regional refining and distribution centre — among the world’s largest — helping set the ‘refiner margin’ which is the difference between the price of crude and the end product;
3. Prices in different regions can move in different directions;
4.  Prices can be volatile in one region alone, due to many factors including weather, civil unrest, industrial action, even volcanoes;
5. If Australia’s petrol prices were below Singapore's prices, our suppliers would have no commercial incentive to import because sales would be at a loss here, and Australian refiners would have an incentive to export.

95% of the wholesale price of petrol — the Terminal Gate Price (TGP) charged by our petrol companies — is made up of the Singapore price, with Australian excise of 38 cents per litre, 10% GST and shipping and freight costs added. 

• Insurance
• a quality premium for Australian fuel standards
• the costs of wharfage and terminals
• a marketing margin.

Australian Government regulations require wholesale suppliers to publish TGP prices daily, which lag one or two weeks behind a price change in Singapore — with that in mind, you can see how the fluctuations work.

To talk to one of our consultants about pricing on our fuel delivery and storage options. Call Bulk Fuel Australia today on 1300 579 990.