Karratha and Port Hedland Hold Unleaded Near the October Peak While Perth Falls 11.7 Cents

Karratha and Port Hedland Hold Unleaded Near the October Peak While Perth Falls 11.7 Cents

When unleaded climbed in September, servos in Karratha and Port Hedland passed the rise on within days. Three weeks into a fall in Perth, they have passed on almost none of it, and motorists in both towns are entitled to ask why.

These figures use the unleaded prices lodged with FuelWatch for today, Tuesday 3rd Nov 2026, as read at 8:05am AEDT (5:05am in Perth).

Perth has come down

Perth's weekly cycle makes any single day misleading, so a seven day average is fairer. Across about 460 Perth servos, the daily median unleaded price averaged 241.3 cents a litre over the seven days to 13 Oct. In the seven days to today it averaged 229.6, a fall of 11.7 cents.

Today's Perth median is 219.5, down from 235.9 on Tuesday 13 Oct and the lowest Tuesday since 15 Sep. Sites outside the cycle have come down as well, so this is more than cycle timing. Vibe and Atlas skip the Wednesday reset, and their Tuesday medians went from 233.7 and 233.6 on 13 Oct to 217.7 and 218.9 today.

The Pilbara has barely moved

Across eight servos in Karratha and Dampier, the median unleaded price was 255.9 on 13 Oct. Today it is 254.9, down 1 cent.

The cheapest in town are Liberty Karratha in Nickol and Dunning's Karratha, both on 249.5. Liberty has held that price since 11 Oct and Dunning's since 12 Oct. BP Karratha and BP Karratha West have moved in lockstep since 1 Sep. They peaked at 258.9 on 10 Oct and are now on 254.9, a cut of 4 cents. The three Shell Reddy Express sites in Karratha and Dampier went to 255.9 on 13 Oct and have taken 0.1 cents off since then, to 255.8.

Port Hedland and South Hedland are flatter still. The median across nine servos was 272.9 on 13 Oct and is 272.8 today. Caltex South Hedland has lodged 272.9 every day since 30 Sep, and the two Shell Reddy Express sites held 272.9 from 27 Sep and have been on 272.8 since 23 Oct. All seven Hedland servos that FuelWatch lists as open today sit between 271.8 and 272.9.

September's rise came through within days

On 16 Sep the Perth median jumped from 209.9 to 229.9. That same day Liberty Karratha lifted from 215.5 to 229.5, and Dunning's Karratha went from 215.5 to 225.5.

Between 8 and 22 Sep, the Shell Reddy Express sites in Karratha and Dampier lifted unleaded 11 times, from 223.9 to 256.9. Over the same fortnight Shell Reddy Express Port Hedland lifted 10 times, from 243.9 to 274.9.

From the week to 7 Sep to the week to 13 Oct, Perth's average rose 35.5 cents. The Pilbara passed on all of that rise: the Karratha median went up 38.5 cents, from 217.4 to 255.9, and Port Hedland's went up 34.0 cents, from 238.9 to 272.9.

A widening gap

Remote fuel will always cost more than fuel in Perth. Both towns are more than 1,500 km from Perth by road, so freight adds to the price, and a smaller town sells fewer litres to cover each servo's costs. A short lag on the way down can be fair too, since a servo may still be selling fuel it bought at the higher price.

Those costs explain why there is a gap, but it is harder to see how they explain one that has kept widening for three weeks. On 13 Oct the Karratha median sat 14.6 cents above Perth's weekly average, and today the gap is 25.3 cents. Port Hedland's gap has grown from 31.6 to 43.2 cents, which is about $26 on a 60 litre tank.

Geraldton shows that regional prices can come down, at least at the independents. Petro Fuels Bluff Point cut from 234.8 to 224.9 and Atlas Fuel Geraldton went from 239.9 to 225.5, while BP Wonthella, Caltex Tarcoola Beach and EG Ampol Geraldton have all been on 239.9 since 13 Oct or earlier. Further north, Broome's seven servos sit between 279.5 and 284.9, and none is more than 0.1 cents below its 13 Oct price.

What Pilbara motorists can do

In Karratha, filling at 249.5 instead of the 254.9 median saves about $3.24 on a 60 litre tank. In Hedland the spread between open servos is just 1.1 cents, so shopping around makes little difference there.

You can compare unleaded petrol prices across Western Australia, and I will be watching the weekly price trends to see whether the Pilbara catches up with Perth. If both medians are still within a cent of their October peak by mid November, motorists in the north west deserve a clear explanation of why.

*Prices are from WA's FuelWatch scheme. Petrolmate calculates the medians and averages.*