Oil prices continue to keep the transport industry on its toes with a spike in prices taking the average national terminal gate price for diesel up over the $1.50 per litre level for the first few days of September, according to the latest figures published by the Australian Institute of Petroleum on their website. After peaking out at 150.8 cents/litre on September 6 the market has settled enough for the average to drop below 150, to 149 cents per litre on September 13.
These prices are the highest Australia has seen since the height of the global financial meltdown in October 2008. However, the industry is not seeing, as a rule, sharp rises and falls but a gradual rising in overall price levels, with the average climbing inexorably by over one cent per month in 2013.
Upwards pressure on the global oil price will continue as the amount of oil being produced by Syria has halved in recent months due to the ongoing conflict in the country. At the same time the Organisation of petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is predicting an increase in demand for oil in the coming months.
Analysts are expecting the limited recovery starting to appear in both the USA and in some European countries to offset the slowdown OPEC have been experiencing in developing countries around the world.
All of which adds up to the prospect of terminal gate prices continuing to steadily rise over the longer term for trucking operators.
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