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The deregulated Australian oil market and the APMM

The Australian downstream oil industry was deregulated by the Howard Coalition Government in August 1998. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) subsequently ceased to approve maximum wholesale prices for petrol and automotive diesel. This had been a part of a regulatory regime applicable to the four major refiner-marketers in Australia. The ACCC also ceased to administer the long-established system of approved national freight differentials for petrol and diesel. This scale had been used to determine maximum approved wholesale prices to up-country locations across Australia.

Part of the surveillance activity of the ACCC involved publication of the daily "Intervention Price" (IP) report for petrol and diesel. This report measured the ACCC's assessment of underlying movements in the market-based cost of imported product inputs to the Australian wholesale market. The IP price series was the only independently published indicator of product import parity values in Australia. For this reason the IP price series served as an independent indicator of indicative petroleum product prices. The indicator series was used as a guide by a wide variety of participants in the Australian petroleum products market.

The import parity series was incorporated by FUELtrac Pty Ltd into the Australian Petroleum Market Monitor (APMM) from 1 July 1999. The APMM has since continued to provide this authoritative daily assessment of the market-based movements in the cost of petroleum products. APMM now incorporates expanded services with two additional series; the 7-day average indicator (IP) and the Terminal Gate Prices (TGP) Benchmark Indicator.

The APMM price indicator series remain an important part of the overall mechanisms for a deregulated petroleum market. These indicators support the requirements of all market participants by providing objective benchmark indicators of price movements in the Australian petroleum market.