Petrol in New Zealand has gone up yet again—another six cents per litre. In most places, it’s now NZ$1.689 per litre (or today about US$3.21 per US gallon). Petrol has gone up 36 cents a litre since January 14 (about 68 US cents per US gallon).
The reason for this is allegedly the plummeting New Zealand dollar (last night, the Kiwi dropped below 50 US cents for the first time in six years), even though world prices for petroleum remain relatively low. What ordinary people notice is that when the Kiwi gains strength and/or the cost of oil drops, the pump price falls slowly, sometimes as little as 2 centre per litre, once in awhile it’s 6 cents, but it’s usually 3 cents, and usually well after the drop in price or increase in the Kiwi. However, the second there’s an increase in oil prices or the Kiwi drops, the pump price jumps at least three cents a litre, sometimes 4 cents and quite often six cents a litre (like this time). This is why most Kiwis don’t trust the oil companies.
Some months back, my friend Dawn wrote a long and thorough post explaining the background to petroleum pricing and profits. It’s no simple situation, far more complicated than it appears by watching pump prices.
In any case, it seems like the days of cheaper petrol are over in New Zealand for now, and that can only make things worse for ordinary Kiwis. That’s not a good thing for anyone—including the oil companies.
3 comments:
gas is creeping up in the US as well, 6 cents last week (I think I heard) It's back over $2 in Albany ($2.099 at the local Mobil), though one can still find it for $1.959
Atlanta got as low as $1.65 and is now bumping around $1.90.
I'm also pretty sure that the first sign of a healthy economy will be $3.00 gas again, it will mean that credit companies are willing to loan out to speculators and hedge funds (again).
I'm just hoping that Atlanta/Georgia in the US has stripped out all of it's stupid price-control laws. It basically meant that instead of having $6.00 gas, you had $3.95 gas for about 3 hours at any given station. It was really scary for me when I wasn't able to get gas at all as opposed to just having to pay a lot for it (if you remember that sad podcast I did forever ago).
One thing I didn't mention is another observation we've almade: Petrol companies almost always raise prices around a week before a big public holiday, and this Friday is Waitangi Day, the last big holiday weekend of summer. The next public holidays are Good Friday and Easter, in case you're wondering. I predict petrol prices will rise sometime before that weekend, too.
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