Newcastle had some of the nation's cheapest unleaded petrol in August, according to the results of a new study, but now the Hunter's average price is well above that of Sydney, a separate NRMA report shows.
Insurance company Budget Direct released results of its study this week, which used data from the FuelPrice Australia website to calculate average regular unleaded prices in 30 of Australia's most populous cities for August.
According to the results, Newcastle ranked fourth cheapest at a price of 111.2 cents per litre, behind Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria and Bundaberg in Queensland.
Sydney ranked 21st on the list with a price of 121.7 cents per litre, while the nation's most expensive city was Melbourne at 127 cents per litre.
But new fuel price data from motoring watchdog NRMA shows things have changed a few months down the track.
The latest weekly NRMA petrol report, released on Tuesday, showed that Newcastle's average regular unleaded price was more than 17 cents per litre higher than that of Sydney for the week ending November 1.
According to the data, Newcastle recorded an average price of 123.8 cents per litre, compared with Sydney's average of 106.2 cents per litre.
Muswellbrook's average price was the state's cheapest for the week, at 104.8 cents per litre, but Singleton recorded an average of 124 cents per litre and Maitland was at 139 cents per litre - the most expensive in NSW for the period.
But this week's prices are the result of a week-on-week drop in Sydney and the Hunter - aside from Muswellbrook, which recorded no change.
Newcastle's average price dipped by 6.3 cents per litre from the previous week, while Sydney dropped 7.4 cents per litre, Maitland decreased by 4.6 cents per litre and Singleton was down by 4.3 cents per litre.
The NRMA report said global crude oil prices had fallen to five-month lows due to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, particularly in Europe, with reintroduced lockdowns and travel restrictions decreasing demand.
It also said Libya's increasing crude oil production - which had raised fears of oversupply - and rising oil inventory stockpiles in the US were key global pricing factors.
"Over the past week, the average Mogas price [a key benchmark for Australia] fell 2.1 cents per litre with the Australian dollar falling 0.7 cents to 70.4 cents against the US dollar," the report noted.
"Average regular unleaded prices fell 7.4 cents per litre this past week to 106.2 cents per litre at the bottom of the cycle [in Sydney]. Average prices are now expected to rise to 134 cents per litre over the next 2 weeks."
The latest figures come six months after the cost of unleaded petrol in the Hunter dropped lower than 90 cents per litre at some service stations for what the NRMA described as the region's cheapest prices in 15 years.
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