Alice Springs Cuts Unleaded to 257.9 but Now Sits 23 Cents Above Darwin

Alice Springs Cuts Unleaded to 257.9 but Now Sits 23 Cents Above Darwin

Right, so there's good news and not so good news if you fill up in Alice Springs. Most of the town's servos have taken 6 or 7 cents off unleaded over the past fortnight. Trouble is, Darwin has come down nearly twice as far, so the gap between the two has grown.

These are the official Northern Territory fuel prices as of 12:30pm AEDT (11am in the Territory) on Sunday 15th Nov 2026.

Alice Springs: 7 cents in four steps

Leave out the two fuel depots and Alice has a dozen servos selling unleaded. On Monday 2nd Nov, ten of them were on 264.9.

Shell Reddy Express Mt Gillen, Shell Reddy Express Gap Road, United Heavitree Gap and S24 Alice City then came down in steps: 262.9 on Saturday 7th Nov, 260.9 on Tuesday, 258.9 on Friday and 257.9 yesterday. EG Ampol Alice Springs has ended up on 257.9 too, and Ampol Teppa Hill is the cheapest in town at 257.8.

The three BP sites (Truckstop, Sadadeen and Gap Road) have matched each other every day since early October, and all three are on 258.9 after a 6 cent drop. Ampol Larapinta and Shell Reddy Express Truck Stop are on 258.9 as well, and Mogas at the airport is on 260.9.

That takes the Alice median from 264.9 to 258.4, which is about $4 back in your pocket on a 60 litre tank.

Darwin went further

Over the same fortnight, the median across 45 servos in greater Darwin, Palmerston and the rural area included, fell 11.6 cents, from 246.5 to 234.9. The big day was Friday 13th Nov, when 27 of those servos cut between 3 and 7.4 cents in one go. United Coconut Grove went from 240.9 to 233.5. Fair dinkum, in Alice that same Friday, the biggest cut anywhere was 2 cents.

Nine Darwin servos are now on 232.5. Six are United sites, including Smith Street in the city and Parap, and the other three are Solo Stuart Park, Solo Casuarina and Fuelxpress Winnellie.

Put the two medians side by side and the Alice premium has gone from 18.4 cents on 2nd Nov to 23.5 cents today. It was about 18 in mid October and 15 at the start of October. At 23.5 cents a litre, a 60 litre fill costs just over $14 more in Alice, which is a couple of coffees and a pie every time you fill up.

Freight is why Alice costs more than Darwin, no argument there. What's harder to explain is the gap growing by 5 cents in a fortnight. The terminal gate price for unleaded in Darwin, the wholesale benchmark, went from 232.3 on 2nd Nov to 202.6 on 13th Nov, a fall of nearly 30 cents. So far the Darwin median has come down about 12 of that and the Alice median about 6.5. Keep an eye on our price trends page this week to see whether Alice catches up.

Katherine hasn't budged

Here's the thing, right. A fortnight ago Katherine was the cheap spot in the Top End. Liberty Katherine, United Katherine Pieface and United Katherine South have been on 236.5 since Monday 26th Oct, and on 2nd Nov that was 10 cents under the Darwin median. They haven't moved since, so those nine Darwin servos on 232.5 are now 4 cents under them.

Lone Star still holding in Tennant Creek

Up the track in Tennant Creek, Lone Star Service Station is still on 255.9, where it's sat since its 20 cent cut on 26th Oct. A fortnight ago that was 9 cents under most of Alice. Now it's only 1.9 cents under the cheapest servo there, Ampol Teppa Hill at 257.8.

Diesel in Alice

For the caravans and utes, regular diesel in Alice runs from 278.9 at Shell Reddy Express Truck Stop to 281.9 at BP Sadadeen and BP Gap Road. BP Alice Springs Truckstop and United Heavitree Gap are on 279.5. EG Ampol and S24 in Alice only list premium diesel, so don't compare those with the regular stuff. Check current diesel prices before you fill.

Where to fill up

In Alice, the six servos on 257.8 and 257.9 are a cent under the 258.9 group. It's not a fortune, but if you're out that way anyway, why not. If you're leaving Darwin and heading south, the 232.5 servos now beat Katherine's 236.5, so fill up before you leave town. And coming through Tennant Creek, Lone Star at 255.9 is 12.1 cents under the next lowest in town, Red Shop at 268.0.

You can compare every servo on the unleaded petrol prices page or the interactive fuel map.

Look, end of the day, Alice is always going to pay more than Darwin. But wholesale has come down nearly 30 cents in a fortnight and the gap has grown anyway, so it's fair to keep asking when the next cut is coming.