\u201c[Unleaded] 91 petrol prices have been sitting at just over $2.50 a litre, and so at US$80 [$136] a barrel you could be looking at prices pushing up to maybe just over $2.80 a litre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it went to US$100 a barrel then you\u2019re pushing up to maybe around $3.27 a litre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Overnight, Brent crude \u2013 the international oil benchmark \u2013 surpassed the US$80 a barrel mark after sitting around US$70 last week.<\/p>\n
Kiernan said the response to oil prices so far hasn\u2019t been enough to suggest petrol prices will reach $3 a litre yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been a little bit surprised given the damage over the last day or so to facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, that there hasn\u2019t been more of a price response in terms of international oil prices so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s probably upside risks there in terms of the supply issues with both production facilities and trying to get the oil through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you\u2019re getting in that $2.80-$2.85 a litre range, it\u2019s not that far-fetched that something could escalate and [retail prices] push up over $3.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on Ryan Bridge TODAY earlier this week, AA\u2019s principal policy adviser Terry Collins said Kiwi motorists shouldn\u2019t expect the price of petrol to go up this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you\u2019re seeing when you see the price of oil today is for futures. That\u2019s next month\u2019s oil price. So, the oil has to be then refined and shipped to New Zealand,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no price pressure currently this week on our fuel\u2026 this is not an excuse [for retailers] to put the fuel up this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, long term for the rest of the month, if this continues, then I do expect an increase in fuel and diesel prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Gaspy fuel tracker app, petrol prices were starting to increase across the country in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n
The rise was starkest in the Wellington region where the cheapest available unleaded 91 petrol had risen 12c.<\/p>\n
In Auckland, the cheapest available unleaded 91 had risen 4c.<\/p>\n
The average price of diesel nationwide had risen to $1.85 this morning, up from $1.38 yesterday.<\/p>\n
Motor Trade Association head of advocacy James McDowall said New Zealand\u2019s fuel retailers are \u201cprice-takers\u201d in the global market.<\/p>\n
\u201c[New Zealand fuel retailers] don\u2019t set crude oil prices.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuel retailers are very conscious of the pressure on household budgets and will do what they can to keep any cost increases to a minimum.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDowall said the situation in the Middle East is \u201cchanging rapidly\u201d and \u201cmaking predictions with accuracy is difficult\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf recent history tells us anything, it\u2019s that these situations are unpredictable \u2013 the last significant disruption in this region was shorter than many anticipated, and prices corrected faster than most predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n
ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said an escalation in the Middle East has substantial geopolitical and economic consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cOil prices surged the most in four years as the first market impacts of the war in the Middle East began to be felt,\u201d Tennent-Brown said.<\/p>\n
He said a near halt to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and disruption at a refinery in Saudi Arabia highlighted the threat to oil supplies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe conflict risks a prolonged energy supply shock, with oil prices surging, creating renewed inflationary pressures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Treasury and the Reserve Bank were continuing to monitor market developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Zealand is a trading nation, so significant global events do impact on the economy,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot will depend on how long the conflict continues and whether it escalates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willis acknowledged the price of crude oil had risen this week but was nothing like the levels seen when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently introduced regulations require fuel importers to maintain at least 28 days of petrol and 21 days of diesel reserves,\u201d Willis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe petrol companies have all reported healthy stocks and additional supplies are already in transit, so domestic fuel shortages are not anticipated in the short or medium term.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact on price will depend on how long the conflict continues and whether it escalates.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201c[Unleaded] 91 petrol prices have been sitting at just over $2.50 a litre, and so at US$80 [$136]…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25490,109425,806,1558,138,6150,124,537,154296,3806,2678,305,25902,3594,10110,111,139,69,1523,22126,12937,6492,199,1961,8222,686,2963],"class_list":{"0":"post-312119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-25490","9":"tag-advantage","10":"tag-as","11":"tag-been","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-conflict","14":"tag-could","15":"tag-crisis","16":"tag-deepens","17":"tag-east","18":"tag-fuel","19":"tag-have","20":"tag-hiking","21":"tag-hit","22":"tag-middle","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-over","27":"tag-petrol","28":"tag-prices","29":"tag-retailers","30":"tag-take","31":"tag-this","32":"tag-warned","33":"tag-week","34":"tag-zealands"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}