Hunter petrol cheapest in 15 years as prices plummet below 90c/l

E10 unleaded was being sold for 86.9c/l at the Maitland and East Maitland United service stations on Tuesday morning, with prices also in the 80s at United Merewether (87.9c/l), 7 Eleven at East Maitland (87.9c/l), Puma Rutherford (89.7c/l) and Metro Highfields (89.9c/l), according to the motorist advocate's latest data.

There were also several outlets selling regular unleaded for under 90c/l.

United Mayfield, Metro Shortland, Quinns East Maitland and United at Maitland and East Maitland each had a price of 88.9c/l at the bowser, while regular unleaded was being sold for 89.9c/l at United Merewether, 7 Eleven at Shortland and East Maitland as well as Shell and Woolworths at Cardiff.

The bulk of remaining service stations listed had prices in the 90s.

NRMA told the Newcastle Herald the prices represent the region's cheapest petrol since 2004.

It comes as the NRMA's latest weekly fuel price report revealed that the four Hunter survey locations - Newcastle, Maitland, Singleton and Muswellbrook - represented almost half of the nine regional NSW spots with average unleaded prices under a dollar per litre in the past week.

Maitland recorded an average of 90.7c/l and Newcastle was at 96.7c/l, followed by Muswellbrook (98.1c/l) and Singleton (99.2c/l).

The most expensive average in regional NSW was at Ballina, on the state's far north coast, which had a price of 123.3c/l.

But Bulahdelah, a little more than an hour's drive north of Newcastle, was not far behind with an average of 120.4c/l - though the town's United service station was selling E10 fuel for 85.9c/l on Tuesday morning.

NRMA said regular unleaded prices had dropped by 23.6c/l in regional NSW in the past eight weeks.

Maitland had second cheapest regional average for the week ending May 3, behind Orange - which had a price of 88.2c/l.

The NRMA report said the average Asian crude oil price dropped by 4.8 c/l last week.

It said Mogas 95 - the average unleaded price in Singapore, which is the key benchmark for Australian prices - increased by 91c to $US21.21 a barrel.

The report said the Mogas 95 change would equate to a 1.3c/l rise for Australian motorists.

NRMA said global prices "continued to be volatile" last week for several reasons.

These included the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreeing to cut production quotas, "re-surfacing of US-China trade tensions", global storage tanks nearing capacity and the potential easing of COVID-19 restrictions in some US states - which was expected to have a flow-on effect on the "supply glut".

While you're with us, did you know the Newcastle Herald offers breaking news alerts, daily email newsletters and more? Keep up to date with all the local news - sign up here