The fuel excise could be temporarily halved under the federal budget set to be released tonight in a bid to reduce soaring petrol prices across the country.

But there’s warnings that even if the fuel excise is cut from tonight, motorists will be waiting a while longer before they can see savings at the pump.

Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association CEO Mark McKenzie says it could take up to five days after the cut.

“The excise is levied at the terminal, so it’s actually paid when the tanker fills,” he told Gareth Parker.

“So what that means is if the excise were to be changed at midnight tonight, it would relate to any wholesale deliveries from midnight tonight and onwards.

“But we still will have significant volumes of fuel in the system that has already been delivered in the past 72 hours or so – that obviously has to flow through.

“It’s going to depend on how quickly the service station turns over its volume but typically between three and five days before we start to see the price change at the pump.”

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