In the rapidly changing retail fuel market, grocery and oil giants are teaming up to increase their market share as independent stations struggle to compete, forcing prices down through customer loyalty and expenditure programs.

Additionally the surging value of the Australian dollar has also negated the rising price of international crude products which have hit twelve month highs.

However, WA motorists have been left out in the cold with the government, RAC and Motor Trade Association admitting there was nothing they could do to limit the rise of local fuel to above the one dollar mark. A move that is sure to impact heavily on the massive transport industry which helps keep the resource-driven state running.

Liberty Oil and Gull Petroleum have pointed the finger of blame at the State Government for introducing the toughest fuel specification standards in Australia, handing BP a virtual monopoly in the local market.

Mark Kevin from Liberty claimed that overseas suppliers charged an extra five-to-eight cents per litre to meet WA standards.

Surprisingly BP rejected the claim and pleaded innocence in the matter, blaming refinery and product prices as well as retail margins for the increase, factors which seem to have sidestepped the large eastern state markets.

The RAC has countered the industry claims saying that current international crude prices did not justify a $1 per litre pump price.