Australian drivers are being warned not to expect any immediate relief from sky-high petrol prices that have risen back beyond $2.10 a litre despite steep falls in the cost of crude oil this week.

Fears about a possible global recession and the impact of further pandemic lockdowns in China on fuel demand led to nearly a 10 per cent drop in the benchmark Brent oil price on Wednesday morning, its biggest daily percentage fall since March 9, before it edged slightly higher to $US104 a barrel.

However, economists and energy analysts expect oil markets to remain tight as Western countries continue shunning Russian supplies, meaning the price fall is unlikely to persist for long enough to flow through to Australian petrol stations.

The average national price of unleaded petrol, which dropped to $1.60 in April, has climbed back to $2.12 a litre, according to statistics from the Australian Institute of Petroleum.

Motoring industry groups on Wednesday said ongoing volatility in oil markets meant the latest crude oil price drop was unlikely to lead to significant relief for drivers.

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“The long and the short of it is 2022 has been probably one of the most volatile years we’ve ever seen – so, with these things going up and down, we take them all with a bit of a grain of salt,” said Bridget Ahern, of the NSW-based National Roads and Motorists Association.

“If things do stabilise, and we do kind of stay around that $US100 mark, then absolutely, we would expect to see prices come off considerably ... but we have seen this happen a couple of times in the past few months, but they haven’t stayed there.”

ANZ commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said a lack of output from refineries producing petrol would also contribute to keeping fuel prices high. “The flow-on impact to Australian consumers may be a little limited in the shorter term,” Hynes said.