By: A Singaporean in Australia
Do you know?
Singapore is the regional refining and distribution centre and among the world’s largest. Thus, the Singapore price of unleaded petrol (MOPS95 Petrol)) is the key petrol pricing benchmark for Australia. This relationship has been in place for many years.
Recent movements in Singapore petrol prices and Australian TGPs are shown in Figure 1.
The red line represents the price of petrol that Singapore is selling to Australia. It was around A$0.45c per litre last week.
After shipping costs and an Australian excise tax of 38 cents per litre, the whole price of petrol in Australia will be closer to 90 cents per litre. (purple line) Plus another 10% GST, it will be the wholesale price. (pink line) Additional margins placed by retail agents will see petrol at selling $0.90 – $1.20 / L for everyday consumers on the streets.
So when retail petrol was going at $0.91 cents per litre in Perth last week, one cannot help wonder why Singapore consumers are paying closer to $2 per litre on Singapore streets when Australia is buying at only $0.45 per litre, including shipping cost.
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Republished from the blog ‘A Singaporean in Australia‘.