How PetrUp works out pump prices
Nobody in Jamaica publishes today's price at each pump. So PetrUp works it out from two public sources, and shows its working here.
1. The refinery price, every week
Every Wednesday Petrojam publishes the refinery price of each fuel, taxes included. It takes effect at 12:01am on Thursday. PetrUp reads Petrojam's page automatically each week. This week 87 is $191.31 a litre at the refinery.
2. What stations add on top
Stations add their own margin, transport and costs. Across the island that markup moves with the price, so PetrUp uses a ratio. National pump prices published by GlobalPetrolPrices.com for November 2026 put 90 and diesel at about 1.19 times the refinery price. That ratio held steady over the past year, even as prices rose by about 30%. The gap between 87 and 90 at the pump comes from the CAC surveys.
| Fuel | Pump ÷ refinery | Typical pump this week |
|---|---|---|
| Gasoline 87 | 1.14 | $217.92 |
| Gasoline 90 | 1.19 | $238.39 |
| Auto diesel | 1.19 | $288.24 |
| ULSD | 1.23 | $326.58 (least certain) |
3. Where each station sits
From 2014 to April 2018 the Consumer Affairs Commission surveyed 287 stations every month (26,300 prices, published as open data). Stations kept their place: a station that was 3% above the island's typical price one month was usually about 3% above the next month, and the year after. PetrUp takes each station's position in its last survey and applies it to this week's typical price.
Of the 232 stations on the map, 156 are matched to their own survey history. 35 use the average of the same brand in the same parish, and 41 use the parish average. Each station page says which.
4. How well it works
We tested the method on the surveys themselves, always predicting months the method had not seen:
| Test | Average miss (J$ per litre) |
|---|---|
| Every station at the island's typical price (no station history) | 7.14 |
| Station position from its last survey, 1–27 months later | 3.90 |
| … the month after the last survey | 0.95 |
| Full method (refinery price × ratio × station position), 2017–2018 using 2016 data | 3.12 |
| Same, with a fixed J$ markup instead of a ratio | 4.08 |
Prices were about $125–$150 a litre then, so the full method was off by about 2–3% on average. The error grows by about $0.50 a year after a station's last survey. The newest survey is from April 2018, so treat each station's number as a guide to whether it is cheap or dear, within roughly ±6%.
What we cannot see
- Stations that changed owner, brand or pricing policy since 2018.
- Stations opened since 2018: they use their brand and parish average.
- Promotions and cash or card differences.
If you see a real price, report it on the station's page. Reports show next to the estimate.
Sources
- Petrojam weekly refinery prices, petrojam.com/price
- Consumer Affairs Commission, "Consumer Petrol Prices" 2014–2018, data.gov.jm (CC BY 4.0)
- National pump prices, GlobalPetrolPrices.com (calibration, November 2026)
- Station locations © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Model version 2026-11-12. PetrUp is not affiliated with Petrojam, the CAC or any fuel company.