Australia: Fueltrac Highlight Queensland Petrol Retail

Not enough independent petrol retail competition has reduced the effectiveness of Queensland's fuel subsidy to drive local fuel prices down, according to Fueltrac.

This week Gold Coasters  paying 5c more for a litre of unleaded petrol than South Australians despite our state's 8c a litre fuel subsidy. In Adelaide, drivers were  paying as little as 98.9c while Gold Coasters were paying an average of $1.04 a litre.

Fueltrac general manager Geoff Trotter said while Queensland motorists were supposed to be reaping the benefits of the Government's 8c subsidy, most of it was being sucked up by the retailers. Mr Trotter said the dearth of independent service stations in southeast Queensland, compared with Adelaide, meant there was less compulsion for the major oil companies to match the sharper prices set by the few independents.

"At the wholesale level the price difference is there," said Mr Trotter.  "The wholesale price in Adelaide is $1.02, and it's $1.03 in Sydney, but in Brisbane it's actually 92c, so it just means that they (local retailers) maintain a higher margin than they do in, say, Adelaide," he said.  Mr Trotter explained that much of the Adelaide scenario was down to one independent service station operator owning 25 stations -- a situation that does not exist on the Gold Coast or in Brisbane.

Mr Trotter said southeast Queensland's independent stations were scattered and smaller-scale which meant they lacked the discounting pull that could lure the big oil companies into price wars. Adelaide pricing tended to be short-term, he said. "They are selling at under wholesale price, so it doesn't last long, I can tell you."

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