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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is monitoring fuel price movements and market behaviour closely as international crude oil prices respond to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, warning fuel companies against making misleading statements to consumers about price increases.
The watchdog’s attention comes as its latest quarterly petrol monitoring report, covering the December quarter 2025, found that average retail petrol prices rose slightly in the period, even as full-year 2025 prices came in lower than 2024.
ACCC Commissioner, Anna Brakey, put fuel retailers on notice. “The international price of refined petrol is a key driver of Australian retail petrol prices. While these international costs are largely outside the control of local petrol retailers, we remind retailers that making false or misleading statements to consumers about the reasons of price increases would be in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.”
Brakey added that the regulator had already contacted major fuel companies directly. “The ACCC will not hesitate to take action if representations and market behaviour by a petrol company contravene competition and consumer laws. We have written to major fuel companies to set out our expectations about domestic fuel pricing as these international events unfold.”
Motorists were also urged to use available tools to find the lowest prices at the bowser. “At this time, as at any time, we encourage motorists to use fuel price apps and websites to shop around to find the lowest prices,” Brakey noted.
December Quarter Prices Rose Slightly Across Most Capital Cities
In the December quarter 2025, average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – were 180.4 cents per litre, up 1.6 cents per litre compared with the previous quarter.
Quarterly average retail prices increased in four of the five largest cities, with Perth the exception, where prices remained flat compared to the September quarter. In Canberra, Hobart and Darwin, quarterly average retail prices were also higher than the previous quarter.
Despite the quarterly rise, the ACCC noted that prices over the full calendar year 2025 were lower than in 2024. “While average prices were higher in the largest cities in the December quarter, they were overall lower in calendar year 2025 than in 2024,” Commissioner Brakey noted.
Annual average retail petrol prices across the five largest cities in 2025 were 179.3 cents per litre, which was 8.7 cents per litre lower than in 2024.
Retail Margins Were the Main Driver of Higher Prices
The ACCC found that higher retail costs and margins were the primary contributor to the quarterly price increase, rather than movements in underlying crude oil or refined petrol costs.
Gross indicative retail differences – which the ACCC uses as a broad indicator of gross retail margins, encompassing both retail operating costs and retail profits – averaged 17.9 cents per litre across the five largest cities in the December quarter. That was 1.5 cents per litre higher than the previous quarter.
For the full calendar year 2025, annual average gross indicative retail differences were 16.3 cents per litre, just 0.2 cents per litre above the 10-year real terms average.
Crude Oil Prices Fell in the Quarter But Have Since Spiked
Crude oil prices trended downward through the December quarter 2025, despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, as global inventories increased to their highest level in close to four years. International prices for refined petrol, measured by the Singapore Mogas 95 Unleaded benchmark, were relatively stable and also lower on average than in the prior quarter.
In early January 2026, crude oil prices spiked following geopolitical developments in Venezuela and Iran, before easing by mid-January. The ACCC noted those January movements had minimal flow-on effect to Mogas 95 prices.
The situation has since changed. Over the week leading up to the report’s release on March 6, international crude oil and Mogas 95 prices increased sharply in response to the Middle East conflict, which is what prompted the ACCC’s heightened scrutiny of domestic market behaviour.
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Diesel Prices Also Rose in the December Quarter
Retail diesel prices rose across all capital cities in the December quarter 2025. Across the five largest cities, average quarterly retail diesel prices were 185.9 cents per litre, an increase of 4.1 cents per litre from the previous quarter.
For the full year, annual average retail diesel prices across the five largest cities in 2025 were 4.9 cents per litre lower than in 2024.
The international benchmark price for refined diesel has also increased significantly in the week leading up to the report’s release, mirroring the movement in crude oil.
Regional Prices Remained Close to Capital City Levels
Across more than 190 regional locations monitored by the ACCC, average retail petrol prices in aggregate were 180.6 cents per litre in the December quarter, just 0.2 cents per litre higher than the average across the five largest cities. That represented an increase of 0.7 cents per litre from the previous quarter.
Electric Vehicle Sales Hit Record Share in December
Alongside the petrol market data, the ACCC’s report noted a record milestone for electric vehicles in Australia. Almost 17 per cent of all new vehicle sales in December 2025 were electric vehicles, representing the highest monthly electric vehicle market share ever recorded in the country.
For the full calendar year 2025, electric vehicle sales rose by 38 per cent compared with 2024 and accounted for just over 13 per cent of all new vehicle sales.
Mobil Penalised for Misleading Fuel Representations
The report’s release comes in the context of recent enforcement action in the sector. In February 2026, the Federal Court ordered Mobil Oil Australia to pay $16 million in penalties for making false or misleading representations about the fuel sold at nine petrol stations in north and central Queensland, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.
The ACCC’s fuel price monitoring role was also renewed late last year. On December 10, 2025, the Treasurer issued a new Ministerial Direction to the ACCC to monitor prices, costs and profits relating to the supply of petroleum products in Australia for a further five years, commencing January 1, 2026. The regulator is required to report to the Treasurer at least once per quarter.
Comment and Analysis
How could we tell if price gouging occurs due to war? It’s already common for same-brand petrol stations to have 80c per litre price differentials when they’re only 1KM apart (we’re looking at you BP Willoughby, Sydney). We were also told that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had caused a price spike despite Australia buying ‘dirty’ petrol from India that came from Russian crude. When President Trump announced a trade deal with India that forbade this, the cost of petrol dropped in Australia. Go figure.
Price hikes at BP used to (predictably) be heralded by marketing emails regarding up-and-coming Qantas Point boost promotions. We suspect that the $4m Big Oil ‘donates’ to our major political parties has helped fend-off investigations into these practices thus far and don’t expect anything to change with this announcement from the ACCC.
Last Updated on March 6, 2026 by Nick Ross
