A NASTY Christmas surprise is in store for drivers, with a 4c-a-litre spike in petrol prices due by the end of the year.
The petrol pain comes as a new report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission revealed it is becoming even harder to predict the cheapest day to buy fuel.
The weekly retail price cycles, slammed by consumer watchdogs as artificially inflated, often moved through the week in 2010.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said oil prices were at a 25-month high and likely to rise even further.
Bowser guide: Search petrol prices near you
The strengthening US economy is also expected to raise the domestic petrol price in the new year.
Mr Sebastian said wholesale prices had risen another three cents in the past week but the price spike had yet to flow through to the bowser.
"The average national metropolitan price at the moment is 128.6 cents a litre and you'd expect to see that push past $1.30 in the next two weeks," he said.
"You may see petrol finish up the year about 3-4 cents up a litre."
The ACCC's report, issued yesterday, found petrol prices hit a low of 116 cents per litre in October 2009 and a high of 130 cents per litre in May 2010.
Friday is generally the most expensive day to buy petrol in Melbourne, while Wednesday or Thursday are usually the cheapest days.
Comments on this story
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Greg Posted at 12:26 PM Today
Must be a slow news day as 4c is pretty minimal in the scheme of things. The real story is in the exchange rates and the reduced price of oil not being rflected in the bowser price but I guess that would take some real investigative skills to analyse the rip off