Every year at a glance
| Year | Petrol | Diesel | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 93.6 | 96.8 | China's demand starts lifting oil |
| 2005 | 107.3 | 114.2 | Hurricane Katrina hits US refineries |
| 2006 | 120.5 | 127.6 | |
| 2007 | 120.9 | 123.9 | |
| 2008 | 136.0 | 151.7 | Oil hits US$147 in July, then collapses |
| 2009 | 113.0 | 113.0 | Global financial crisis |
| 2010 | 118.5 | 119.2 | |
| 2011 | 132.4 | 136.6 | Arab Spring; Libyan supply lost |
| 2012 | 135.2 | 138.4 | |
| 2013 | 138.2 | 141.8 | Dollar falls from above parity |
| 2014 | 138.5 | 140.5 | Oil collapses from November |
| 2015 | 118.3 | 115.8 | Oil glut |
| 2016 | 106.1 | 102.9 | Brent briefly below US$30 |
| 2017 | 116.2 | 114.5 | |
| 2018 | 130.5 | 135.0 | OPEC cuts; dollar weakens |
| 2019 | 129.5 | 135.2 | |
| 2020 | 105.6 | 108.5 | COVID-19 lockdowns |
| 2021 | 133.2 | 130.2 | Reopening |
| 2022 | 170.0 | 191.5 | Russia invades Ukraine; excise halved for six months |
| 2023 | 174.9 | 183.4 | OPEC+ cuts |
| 2024 | 171.8 | 174.4 | |
| 2025 | 163.1 | 167.9 | Oil slides to the low US$60s |
| 2026 | 182.4 | 215.7 | Strait of Hormuz crisis; excise cut April to July |
National average terminal gate price, cents a litre, averaged over every weekday of the year. Australian Institute of Petroleum figures, with 2026 to 7 October.
The long climb from 2004 to 2008
Wholesale petrol rose by almost half in four years, from 93.6c to 136.0c a litre on average, as demand from China and other fast-growing economies ran ahead of new supply. The climb ended in July 2008 with Brent at about US$147 a barrel. Diesel suffered most, with a 2008 average 15.7c above petrol, a gap not seen again until 2022.
Crash, recovery and a plateau, 2009 to 2014
The global financial crisis took 23c off the average wholesale price of petrol in a year. They recovered by 2011 and then sat between 132c and 139c on average for four years. That stability hid two forces cancelling out. Oil stayed around US$100 to US$110 a barrel, while the Australian dollar was near or above parity with the US dollar, the strongest it had been in decades.
The glut of 2015 and 2016
From late 2014, US shale production and OPEC's decision to keep pumping produced a glut. Wholesale petrol averaged 106.1c in 2016, down 32c from 2014. Diesel was cheaper than petrol for three years running, from 2015 to 2017.
The 2020 floor
When lockdowns emptied roads around the world, oil demand fell faster than producers could cut. On 17 April 2020 national wholesale petrol was 80.8c a litre, the lowest in our data back to 2004, and with excise then at 42.3c that left less than 33c a litre for the fuel itself. Some servos briefly sold petrol below $1 a litre.
The first shock in 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 pushed Brent above US$120. Wholesale petrol averaged 170.0c for the year, up 37c on 2021, and diesel 191.5c. The government halved excise from 30 March to 28 September, which the wholesale data shows was passed through in full at the terminal gate. 2023 was dearer still on average for petrol, at 174.9c.
Records in 2026
Prices eased through 2025 as oil slid to the low US$60s, and in January and February 2026 wholesale petrol averaged about 153.5c, its lowest since the 2022 excise cut. Then, from late February, conflict around the Strait of Hormuz sent Brent from about US$70 to over US$100 within weeks. National wholesale petrol hit its record of 249.4c on 26 March. Diesel hit 325.9c on 9 April, even after excise was cut.
Prices fell back through May and June as oil eased and the excise cut held, to a low of 147.3c for petrol on 30 June. The phased return of excise and a second rise in oil from August have taken them most of the way back, to 238.7c for petrol and 263.2c for diesel on 7 October.
How much of the rise is tax?
Fuel excise was frozen at 38.143c a litre from 2001 until November 2014, when indexation to inflation resumed. It has been raised every February and August since and is now 53.7c. So about 15.6c of the rise in wholesale prices since 2004 is excise, and GST adds a tenth to everything else. The rest is the cost of the fuel itself, meaning crude oil, refining and shipping, priced in a weaker dollar than in the parity years.
What the long view tells you
- The dollar matters nearly as much as oil. From 2011 to 2014 oil was above US$100 a barrel, yet wholesale petrol averaged less than 140c, because the dollar was near parity with the US dollar.
- Records happen in crises, and crises are short. Both records in our data, 249.4c for petrol and 325.9c for diesel, were set within two weeks of each other in March and April 2026.
- Diesel's premium has grown. In most years before 2022 diesel averaged 2 to 7c a litre more than petrol. It was 21.5c in 2022 and is 33.2c so far in 2026. Why diesel costs more.
The interactive chart on our market page has the full daily series for every capital back to 2004.
Where these figures come from
Wholesale prices are the terminal gate prices published each weekday by the Australian Institute of Petroleum, which we hold back to 2004. The national figure is AIP's own average where it has published one, and our weighted calculation in between, which matches AIP's to within 0.1c. Oil and currency prices are delayed market closes. Excise rates are the ATO's. We check every figure against that data before publishing and correct mistakes in the update log. Spotted one? Email hello@thepetrolprice.com.