TOKYO, JAPAN - JAPAN'S average petrol price at the pump has hit a record high of 181.50 yen (S$2.29) per litre due to surges in global crude oil prices, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The nationwide average retail price of regular petrol as of Monday was up 5.5 per cent or 9.5 yen from a week earlier, the Oil Information Centre said in its weekly survey.

Japan has almost no natural energy resources and relies heavily on imports of crude oil to power its economy, the second largest in the world. Rising crude prices forced Japanese oil wholesalers to raise petrol prices in concert by nearly 10 yen on July 1.

It was the first time the average price topped the 180 yen mark since the non-profit organisation started surveying petrol prices across the nation in 1987.

'We are certain that the average petrol price had not been any higher than the level before that year,' an official at the centre said.

In late 1982, the average petrol price in Tokyo reached 177 yen following the 1979 global oil crisis in the wake of the Iranian Revolution, which halted oil production in the Middle East country.