WELLINGTON: Motorists are again facing petrol prices above $2 a litre after being hit by a “double whammy” of higher oil prices and the falling dollar. Z Energy and BP have both added 4c a litre to fuel prices at the pump, the first increase in two months. A litre of unleaded 91 now costs just under $2.02, while diesel is just under $1.24.
The New Zealand dollar has yet to recover from the downward slide caused by the Chinese stock market meltdown in recent weeks. It was trading at US63.59c on Wednesday afternoon, with a boost in dairy prices overnight having little impact.
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Meanwhile, global commodity prices have been climbing sharply since late last week. BP spokeswoman Shelley Brady said the company had “held off as long as we possibly could”, and would bring prices back down if conditions changed.
International oil prices make up about a third of the cost of retail fuel. AA PetrolWatch spokesman Mark Stockdale said that after a long run of retail price cuts, motorists had been “hit by a double whammy”.
He said fuel companies’ margins were above average last week, as they had failed to pass on all of the price cuts. “So they have room to absorb some of the commodity price increases.” “Given that fuel companies normally only drop prices 2c at a time, we say they should have only raised prices 2c at a time.”
Gull general manager David Bodger said the company would keep its prices below the $2 mark until Friday afternoon at the earliest.
“Yes, international prices have risen and yes, the dollar has dropped, but that may reverse tomorrow.” There was no need to “bludgeon the motorist” with such a rapid response to international changes, Bodger said.
