Fuel prices up as confidence grows

Petrol prices are rising as Covid19 vaccines are rolled out and global economic confidence builds, leading to higher crude oil prices.

According to price comparison app Gaspy, the price of a litre of

91-octane petrol ranged from $1.99 to $2.20 in Auckland. In Wellington, it cost $1.95-$2.10.

AA Petrolwatch spokesman Mark Stockdale said fuel price hikes had been the result of rising global commodity prices.

‘‘Prices are the highest they’ve been all year,’’ Stockdale said. ‘‘In March last year, when countries went into lockdown, there was a big decrease in the commodity price. That’s gradually reversed as confidence went up and economies are recovering.’’

Gull general manager Dave Bodger said the average price for

91-octane petrol in December

2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic reached New Zealand, was about $2.15 a litre.

Yesterday, the average price for 91 petrol at Gull was $1.97 a litre, slightly lower than preCovid but 11 cents higher than the average during the April lockdown.

Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen said a combination of optimism about being closer to turning a corner on Covid-19 with vaccine rollouts, and restrictions on oil production, had put more pressure on supply, raising the price.

Olsen said there was potential for fuel prices to rise further over the next few months.

Stockdale said it would still be some time before the effects of the Fuel Industry Bill to boost competition in the wholesale fuel industry, passed last August, were felt.

Mark Stockdale AA Petrolwatch

The bill was the Government’s response to recommendations to the Commerce Commission’s fuel market study. Most of the recommendations from the commission’s review had 12- to 18-month deadlines from when the bill was passed, Stockdale said.

Bodger said a number of Gull petrol stations had started implementing some of the recommendations. He said new stations were displaying the price of premium petrol, which was one of the recommendations that had a deadline of February 2022.

Motorists who bought premium petrol would have noticed a slightly lower price than before, because there was greater transparency, he said.

‘‘When countries went into lockdown, there was a big decrease in the commodity price.’’