Dalmeny Cuts Unleaded to 229.9 While Narooma Holds 239.9 as Wholesale Falls 26.5 Cents
Between 7am and 7:30am today, Friday 13th Nov 2026, Independent Dalmeny on the NSW South Coast cut unleaded petrol by 10 cents, from 239.9 to 229.9, and diesel by 10 cents, from 279.9 to 269.9.
About 5.5 km south as the crow flies, the three servos in Narooma are still on 239.9, where they have sat since late October. Sydney's wholesale price for unleaded has fallen 26.5 cents since Monday 2nd Nov.
So why would servos sit still while their costs fall? Look first at how quickly Narooma's prices went up in September.
*Prices are from the official NSW FuelCheck scheme, read at 8am AEDT today. Wholesale figures are the Sydney terminal gate price published by the Australian Institute of Petroleum. Petrolmate calculates the medians and gaps.*
On the way up, Narooma kept pace with wholesale
Pearl Energy Narooma went from 214.9 on 8th Sep to 239.9 on 19th Sep, a rise of 25 cents in 11 days. Narooma Fuels made the same climb, and Shell Narooma went from 215.9 to 243.9.
Over almost exactly those days, Sydney wholesale rose 23.2 cents, from 204.8 to 228.0, so the increase reached Narooma's boards about as fast as it reached the terminal. All three servos peaked at 249.9 on 10th and 11th Oct, as wholesale topped out at 242.0 on 12th Oct.
On the way down, Narooma stopped after 10 cents
Since that peak, wholesale has fallen 41.7 cents, to 200.3 on Thursday. Pearl Energy cut to 239.9 on 21st Oct, Shell and Narooma Fuels were there by 24th Oct, and none of the three has moved since.
Think of the gap between bowser and wholesale as the money that pays for trucking fuel down the coast, running the servo and the owner's margin. At Pearl Energy the gap was 10.1 cents on 8th Sep and 11.9 cents on 19th Sep. Today it is 39.6 cents. It's hard to see freight or wages rising 27.7 cents a litre in two months, so most of that extra gap is likely to be margin. Economists call this rockets and feathers: prices shoot up like a rocket and drift down like a feather.
Why small towns tend to lag
Why doesn't competition fix this? The key factor here is how few sellers there are. Narooma's three servos sit within 676 metres of each other, and each sees what the others charge almost as soon as it changes. If one cut 10 cents, it would earn 10 cents less on every litre, and if the other two matched it that day, it would win no extra customers, so none of them wants to be the first to cut.
Another explanation you will hear is stock. A servo selling fewer litres a day takes longer to empty a tanker load bought at the old, higher price. That can explain a lag of a few days, but wholesale has been falling for a month and is down 41.7 cents.
What breaks the stalemate
Usually it's a rival close enough to pull customers away. Up the coast, the five servos in Batemans Bay and Batehaven had a median of 240.8 at noon on 2nd Nov, and today it's 227.9. Shell Reddy Express Batehaven has cut eight times since 6th Nov, 2 cents at a time, and its latest cut, to 223.8, landed in the same 7:30am reading as Dalmeny's.
Closer to Narooma, Ultra Tuross Head, 17.5 km north, cut 11 cents to 226.9 on 10th Nov, the same price as Liberty Moruya in Moruya.
Across the state, Narooma is an outlier. Only 108 of 1,955 NSW servos with a current unleaded price are on the same price as at noon on 2nd Nov. The Sydney median is down from 237.9 to 218.9 and the rest of NSW from 242.8 to 228.9, though both are still short of the 26.5 cent wholesale fall.
What it means for your tank
On a 50 litre tank, filling up in Dalmeny saves $5.00 over Narooma, and Tuross Head saves $6.50. For diesel prices, Dalmeny is on 269.9, against 279.9 at Shell Narooma and 275.9 at Narooma Fuels. Pearl Energy is the only Narooma servo listing E10, at 236.9.
Will Narooma follow Dalmeny? Once a nearby servo breaks ranks, holding out costs more, because some drivers will make the short trip north. When wholesale has fallen and your local board hasn't moved, a cut is more likely to come next than a rise. Our price trends page tracks local moves like this, and the savings calculator shows what a detour is worth. Prices can change at any time, so check before you head off.