EG Ampol Hands Back 3 Cents of Its Brisbane Lift While Rocklea Sits at 218.5

When EG Ampol servos across Brisbane lifted unleaded before dawn on Thursday, the median across 37 of its sites went from 237.9 to 242.9 by noon. By late Sunday morning it was 239.9. How does a price rise fade like that? Look at what the neighbours did next.

Prices here were lodged with Queensland's official fuel price scheme and read at 11:10am AEST on 1st Nov 2026.

A price rise is a bet on your rivals

Think of it this way. Two cafes face each other on one street, both charging $5 for a coffee. One moves to $5.50. If the other follows, both earn more. If it doesn't, customers cross the road, and the first cafe usually comes back down.

Economists call this price leadership: one seller moves first, and the others decide whether to go along. Petrol is a clear example, because unleaded from one servo is much the same as unleaded from the next, and every lodged price is public. The key factor here is how easily drivers can switch, because a lone rise only lasts if motorists have nowhere cheaper to go.

Rocklea shows it on one road

U Go Rocklea on Sherwood Road lifted from 218.9 to 223.9 at 4:47am on Thursday, the same hour EG Ampol began moving. Solo Rocklea, 421 metres along the same road, went the other way and cut from 219.5 to 218.5 at 10:35am. Mega Fuels on Ipswich Road reached 218.5 at 11:30am.

U Go then stepped down to 221.9 at 10:57am, 220.9 at 12:02pm and 218.5 at 9:02am on Friday, so its rise lasted about 28 hours. All three Rocklea sites are still on 218.5, the lowest of 434 servos with a current price between Caboolture and Beenleigh.

The big brands only partly followed

Here are the unleaded medians on Wednesday night, at noon Thursday and late Sunday morning, for sites with a current price on Wednesday:

Reddy Express added 2 cents at 37 sites on Wednesday afternoon, then exactly 1 cent at 44 sites on Thursday afternoon. That's well short of the 5 cents that 34 of 36 EG Ampol sites added that morning. After 8:30am on Saturday, 20 EG Ampol sites cut. Of the 36, 24 now sit below their Thursday noon price and 12 are at or below where they began. EG Ampol has gone from 0.5 cents above the Reddy Express median to 3.5 cents under it.

Some independents tried it too

Pearl Energy Acacia Ridge lifted from 221.5 to 225.5 at 9:34pm on Thursday, and Pearl Energy Moorooka went from 219.5 to 225.5 at 9:42pm. Both were back on their starting prices by 6:51am on Saturday, while Liberty Acacia Ridge stayed on 221.5 throughout.

EG Ampol Moorooka made the full round trip: 239.9 to 244.9 at 4:57am on Thursday, 241.9 at 12:17pm, then back to 239.9 at 9:02am on Saturday. Moorooka Servo, 661 metres away, stayed on 226.7, so the gap went from 18.2 cents to 13.2.

Not every site stepped back. EG Ampol Margate is still on 244.9, 257 metres from Liberty Margate, which last lodged 229.5 on 26th Oct. That's a 15.4 cent gap.

So did the lift fail?

Not entirely. EG Ampol has stepped back, yet the wider market is still higher. The median across all of greater Brisbane went from 236.9 on Wednesday night to 238.9 at noon Thursday and 239.9 now. EG Ampol's peak was trimmed, but a 3.0 cent rise has held so far across the market, helped by BP's slower climb.

In Tasmania, EG Ampol's 5 cent lift was gone within about eight hours, so Brisbane's has faded more slowly and less completely. The price data shows when each servo moved and by how much, but not why.

What it means at the pump

Rocklea's 218.5 is 21.4 cents under the Brisbane median, or $12.84 on a 60 litre tank. For E10 prices, U Go Rocklea is on 215.5, and Liberty and Pearl Energy at Acacia Ridge are on 217.5.

Close neighbours can differ too. On Gympie Road in Kedron, Reddy Express is on 244.9, 105 metres from 7 Eleven on 238.9.

A morning lift isn't always final. When one brand lifts and the servos beside it don't, this week's evidence says the rise may not last, so check unleaded petrol prices and the best time to fill up guide before you commit.