Driving to work, to school and to the shops is about to get a lot more expensive in Perth, with the average price of unleaded petrol rising more than 13 cents a litre to its highest on record.

Motorists queued at petrol stations across Perth on Monday night in a bid to beat higher fuel prices, with many families predicted to feel the strain.

FuelWatch acting manager Ben Derecki said petrol would cost an average of more than $1.60 per litre on Tuesday, the highest the organisation has ever recorded.

"The average price of unleaded petrol will be rising to 160.7cpl (cents per litre), which for the Perth metro area is the highest average price which we have experienced," he said.

"The previous high that we recorded [on a single day] was back in July of 2013, and that was $1.60 a litre."

Perth's highest average monthly petrol price was $1.54 in January 2014, but that is in danger of being surpassed this month if current high prices continue.

Mr Derecki said the price of petrol constantly fluctuated, with prices tied to overseas markets.

Crude oil market instability and geopolitics also affected prices, he said.

"The price of petrol is incredibly hard to predict because prices are so volatile," Mr Derecki said.

"We do know that the Singapore benchmark price has been increasing over the past few weeks — that price then takes a few weeks to flow down.

"We've got the US sanctions in Iran starting in November, there are production issues in Venezuela, and these are some of the issues which are creating those higher prices."

Petrol in Perth will cost an average of $1.67 per litre today. ( AAP: Lukas Coch )

Mr Derecki said most families relied on cars and fuel costs were a basic need.

"When prices increases then those cost of living pressures do increase, but shoppers can shop around and find cheaper prices," he said.

No end in sight to high prices: analyst

StockAnalysis analyst Peter Strachan said the lower Australian dollar was also affecting prices.

"At today's oil price of just under $US85 a barrel, the Aussie dollar oil price is $A117 a barrel, so that's pretty well up there with the high prices we saw back in 2012 and 2013 when the oil price was over $US140," he said.

Peter Strachan says oil is a non-renewable resource and high prices are here to stay. ( Supplied: StockAnalysis )

"But the Aussie dollar was much stronger [then] ... around about $US 0.72 cents. That translates into a very high price for Australia oil and that's translating into higher margins at the bowser."

Mr Strachan said when oil prices were less than $US30 per barrel, margins for retailers increased significantly, but exploration rates dropped.

"This low period that began in middle of 2014 has meant there's been a lot less money invested in exploration and project development, so we've now got a situation where the so-called spare capacity that OPEC's meant to hold is virtually non-existent," he said.

"Venezuela's oil production has declined, the sanctions are falling on Iran — and their production is down around 870,000 barrels of oil a day since about April of this year under the threat of sanctions due to come out in a couple of months that the United States is imposing — and Libya's production has been up and down."

Mr Strachan said higher prices would cause people to reassess their priorities.

"The demand for oil is price-elastic, and as the price goes up people will use less of it," he said.

"When it was a dollar a litre, you didn't think very much about filling up the tank, but now you think, 'maybe I'll just put 20 litres in and see where it takes me.'

"I don't think it's going to go too much higher ... but this is a finite, non-renewable source, there's no more of it being made in a timeframe that makes any sense to us.

"So ultimately we've got to accept oil and gas prices are going to remain at or about these levels going forward."