Petrol drops to lowest price in more than decade

Prices for petrol in some parts of Hawke's Bay yesterday dropped to the lowest prices in the region in more than a decade.

But it was a case of good news for some and not so good for others.

The 150.7 cents a litre of 91 Octane at the self-service Karamu Rd Hastings pumps of Gull Energy being 3c a litre less than the apparent next-cheapest.

The Gull centre at Karamu Rd is also a whopping 28 cents cheaper a litre than the 178.9cpl being charged at such stations as the Z Energy station in Wairoa.

The Gull price in Karamu Rd of 150.7c, compared with 169.9c at BP Railway Rd late afternoon, was part of the nationwide spot-price dropping exercised by Gull Energy in selected locations, and was expected to last just till midday today.

With other discounts available, such as the AA Smartfuel card which at such stations as Napier pricecutting co-leader Caltex Hyderabad Rd would lop another 6c off the display price of 153.9cpl, some motorists will be paying well under $1.50.

It is the first time petrol prices in Hawke's Bay have gone below $1.50 since the start of September 2005, when prices soared in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

This closed down 95 per cent of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico region, disrupting about 30 per cent of the US output.

At the Napier Pak'nSave, a nationwide pioneer of the supermarket voucher petrol
discount era, there was further good news on top of its 153.9cpl 91 Octane price - diesel was at 76.9cpl, thought to be the lowest for diesel in the region.

The Gull price led what seemed a Hawke's Bay price war. On September 5, AA Motoring's Petrolwatch put the "national" price for 91 Octane at 187.9cpl - an 11 cents drop since a peak in May.

New Zealand has among the most expensive petrol in the world, according to the September 19 update by globalpetrolprices.com, which monitors prices in 177 countries.

New Zealand was 20th from the most expensive at US144 cents a litre. Among those more expensive were the UK, France and Germany, and Hong Kong which was the most costly at US187cpl.

Apart from Venezuela (a possible computer glitch at US1cpl), the cheapest was the US23cpl in Saudi Arabia. Fiji was listed at 85cpl, while Australia was at 92cpl.