|  | 8 June 2007
Mobil said today that it understands the public's concerns about high petrol prices and reiterated that Australian motorists continue to benefit from prices which are among the lowest in the developed world.
Allegations that major oil companies are "gouging" motorists are baseless and ignore the realities of the global petroleum market and the highly competitive fuel business in this country. The price of petrol is more visible than that of almost all other products or services that Australian consumers buy and most motorists regularly take the opportunity to buy their fuel at heavily discounted rates.
Mobil sets its wholesale (terminal gate) price for petrol competitively, with reference to international (Singapore market) prices, and this wholesale price has reduced by almost 5 cents per litre over the last week.
At the retail level prices are also heavily impacted by intense local market competition which, as everyone knows, can swing pump prices around substantially over short periods of time. However, in the longer term, it is clear that average Australian retail pump prices also trend in line with changes in the Singapore market price.
There is nothing unusual about Mobil's pricing at the wholesale level or, through our branded resellers, at the retail level over recent weeks.
Retail fuel pricing is quite volatile and it is inappropriate to base comments about trends in that market in reference to observations made at a point in time.
The Australian fuel market is extremely competitive and pricing is highly visible and transparent.
Media Contact: Alan Bailey 0417 549 175
Mobil's daily terminal gate prices (TGPs) are publicly available on our website (www.mobil.com.au) and are reported to the ACCC on a weekly basis. The Australian Institute of Petroleum (AIP) also provides extensive information on average industry wholesale and retail prices (refer www.aip.com.au).
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