Fuel price drop: Petrol companies under 'watchful eye'

Energy Minister Megan Woods says the Government will be keeping a "watchful eye" on petrol companies to ensure prices at the pump go down as oil prices plummet. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Energy Minister Megan Woods says the Government will be keeping a "watchful eye" on petrol companies to ensure prices at the pump go down as oil prices plummet.

And her boss, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has issued a warning to petrol companies.
"I would like those companies to remember the consumers that they're meant to be serving."

This comes as oil prices continue to plummet after Opec and Russia were unable to reach an agreement on production as the economic impact of coronavirus continues to hit markets.

Oil prices fell as much as 30 per cent yesterday morning when the markets opened – the biggest single-day fall since the start of the Iraq war in 1991.

New Zealand petrol companies have already responded – Z Energy and Caltex are dropping the price of fuel by 7 cents a litre today.

It follows a drop of 6c a litre yesterday.

Woods was pleased to see the fall.

But she said she would "certainly ... be keeping a very watchful eye" to check that prices at the pump continue to fall if oil prices keep dropping.

OIL

"We know how quickly when crude prices go up they are passed on to motorists, so I'll be looking to see that those savings are also passed on [when crude is going down]."

In fact, in a regularly scheduled meeting with Mobil executive Andrew McNaught, Woods said exactly that.

A spokeswoman for Woods said when she meets with other petrol company executives in her usual upcoming meetings she will be telling them the same thing.

"This is a very timely test while we are considering how competitive the fuel market is in New Zealand."

Speaking at her post-cabinet press conference yesterday, Ardern had a similar message to Woods.

"My message would be they [petrol companies] are always very quick to respond to an international crisis in order to put the price up.

"I would hope that they would respond in the reverse and put the price down."

Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who was with Ardern at post-cab, said he thinks petrol companies have been putting their prices down as crude prices drop.

"My barometer of extortion for fuel prices is the [petrol] station by the airport and I have noticed that prices have dropped."