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Oil skyrockets as diesel hits six-month highs

FUEL PRICES: Diesel hits six-month highs, with skyrocketing oil prices to inflate operating costs

January 13, 2010

Diesel prices around Australia hit six-month highs last week, with skyrocketing oil prices to inflate operating costs even higher.

Oil prices hit a 15-month high near US$84 a barrel on Monday, with surging demand from China blamed. Prices fell slightly overnight to $US80.74 a barrel as regulators try to reign in the country’s quickly-recovering economy.

The increases will hit bowers in Australia next week, which have already hiked prices to levels not seen since the middle of last year.

The Federal Government’s Petrol Commissioner, Joe Dimasi, says cold weather in the northern hemisphere along with increased Asian demand is pushing oil prices higher.

But he says there is no evidence of Australian retailers taking advantage of the increases to gouge customers above the oil increases.

National terminal gate diesel prices hit $1.18 a litre on Friday, the highest since June 29.

Pricing data from the Australian Institute of Petroleum shows terminal gate costs climbed by up to 2.5 cents per litre across the country week-on-week.

Prices hovered around $1.17 per litre across the country, with diesel in Darwin hitting $1.21 per litre.

AIP data is based on information provided by BP Australia, Caltex, Shell Australia and ExxonMobil, averaged across terminals and capital cities.

Trader Business Media titles ATN, Owner//Driver and ABC publish a summary of terminal gate diesel prices across key capital cities every week. To view this data, available only to subscribers, click here.


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