New figures from NRMA show that Muswellbrook had the second cheapest average unleaded petrol price in the state for the week ending September 12, at 142.7 cents per litre, behind Gunnedah, where the average was 140.7 cents per litre.

At 160.8 cents per litre, Maitland had the state's third highest average for the week - 0.3 cents per litre behind Woolgoolga and 4.8 cents per litre behind Tweed Heads South.

There was less than 1 cent per litre change to week-on-week averages for the period in locations in the Hunter and surrounds surveyed by NRMA - decreases everywhere except Singleton, which recorded no change for its 148.4 cents per litre average.

Newcastle had an average of 155.7 cents per litre and the Central Coast recorded 154.5 cents per litre.

Sydney's average was 159.8 cents per litre - down from 163.4 cents per litre the previous week.

"We're starting to see prices drop from the extreme highs we saw a month ago," an NRMA spokesman told the Herald.

"The bad news is they're dropping much slower than we've seen in previous cycles. We don't really know the reason for that yet, but obviously it is a fairly volatile international economic situation."

The spokesman said NRMA expected prices to continue to slowly drop across NSW in the coming weeks, with a range of international factors leading to marginal reductions in crude oil prices at the wholesale gate in Australia.

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