Petrol prices around Wellington near record-high

Thursday, 10 May 2018

There were also cases of petrol priced at $2.229 a litre at Christchurch and Auckland stations.

The price of petrol continues to climb, with several Wellington stations raising prices another 3 cents today.

Caltex, Z Energy, and BP sites across the Wellington region have raised the price of regular 91 octane petrol by another 3 cents a litre Thursday morning to $2.229 a litre.

Wellington petrol stations have increased the cost of fuel another 3 cents.

Z Energy in Lower Hutt, Tawa, and Crofton Downs have raised the price, and two in Te Aro, as have a BP in Wainuiomata and Mount Cook and a Caltex on Adelaide Road.

Sites across Wellington had raised the price of regular 91 octane petrol by 2 cents a litre on Monday morning, to $2.199 a litre.

While the cost of petrol continues to rise, the price of diesel has stayed put.

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The price used in most of Wellington is what the industry refers to as the 'national' or 'main port' price, which also applies in many parts of the South Island and areas where there is no local discounting.

Caltex's head office set the national price of fuel to up to $2.17, but it leaves it up to individual petrol station owners to set prices.

According to data maintained by the Automobile Association, the national price is now at the highest level since October 2014. The national price hit an all time high in mid-2013, at $2.269.

The cheapest petrol in the region can be found at BP Porirua, which is selling its 91 octane petrol for $2.069 a litre.

In the United States oil prices surpassed US$70 (NZ$99) a barrel on Monday for the first time since late 2014, foreshadowing costlier gasoline and consumer goods.

The cheapest petrol in the Wellington region can be found at the Porirua BP.

The petrol price is inching closer to its mid-2013 high of $2.269 a litre.

Analysts say a contributing factor is concern that Iranian oil exports will fall because the US has withdrawn from a 2015 deal that eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme. Also, US stockpiles of crude are down from this time last year.

Automobile Association principal advisor on petrol pricing Mark Stockdale said it was interesting only petrol prices seemed to be rising and not diesel.

'If it was due concerns around the price of fuel in America and them not renewing the Iran deal, you would think that would have an impact on petrol and diesel prices.'

'Our monitoring of the margins shows the margins are in the normal range so it's not obvious to us why there's a reason for an increase.'

Z Energy and BP did not respond to requests for comment.