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Shell today increased the price of petrol by 4c a litre, which is slightly less than the 6c a litre rivals BP, Caltex and Mobil moved by yesterday.
The petrol prices increases came as food prices recorded their biggest annual increase in nearly seven years.
Standard unleaded 91 octane petrol sold by Shell is now $2.10.9 a litre, 95 octane $2.15.9 a litre and diesel $1.83.9. The price changed at 11.30am.
"We kept our prices down overnight in the hope that we would see a big reduction in the crude oil spike, and a stabilising of the New Zealand dollar," spokeswoman Jackie Maitland said.
"Unfortunately the New Zealand dollar remains lower and we have seen no respite from the increasing barrel price.
"We have had no choice but to increase prices, but we have keep the increase as low as possible because we understand Kiwis are hurting by rising fuel prices."
The Automobile Association was yesterday struggling to recall if motorists had ever before taken so much punishment in such a little time.
Shell and smaller player Gull vowed to see out yesterday without lifting their prices.
But Automobile Association spokesman Mark Stockdale expressed dismay at the actions of Mobil, BP and Caltex.
"It's too much for the motorist to bear," he said.
"We are extremely disappointed - it's too much, too soon."
Despite the frequency of fuel price rises over recent months, reflecting increases in international crude oil prices, Mr Stockdale said he could not recall such big local price rises before this week.
Ministry of Economic Development records of price fluctuations since early 2004 show no net weekly increase higher than 5.5c a litre for 91 octane petrol, which rose to 212.9c yesterday at Mobil, BP and Caltex outlets.
Diesel was up too, at 185.9c, and BP's "boutique" 98-octane petrol went to 226.9c.
On Tuesday, Mr Stockdale acknowledged that the initial 6c increase indicated some restraint by oil companies in response to a hefty overnight rise in imported refined fuel costs of more than US$10 a barrel of petrol.
But the AA's patience ran out yesterday.
Prices for refined imports have fallen by about US$4 a barrel since Tuesday, and yesterday's price of $135.41 a barrel for US crude oil was down on Friday's record price of more than US$139.
But BP spokesman Neil Green said the 6c increase on Tuesday did not enable his company to recover its costs, and it had hoped for a larger "retreat" in refined prices.
Neither had the New Zealand dollar recovered enough to take some of the sting out of import prices, "so we are in a position where we can't afford our margin".
Mr Green said that since the beginning of the month, the cost of imported petrol had risen 24c a litre, of which only 18c was being recovered from motorists at the pumps.
Shell spokeswoman Jackie Maitland said her company was also feeling the effects of last week's spike in crude oil prices flowing through to refined stocks, but had decided to hold its prices for as long as it could.
"We recognise the discomfort people have about rising prices."
Gull retail manager Graham Stirk said his company would review its prices this morning, having decided against raising them yesterday.
He said Thursday and Friday were popular times for motorists to fill up using discount vouchers obtained from weekly grocery shopping.
Also yesterday, Statistics NZ reported a 1 per cent rise in monthly food prices in May, taking the annual rise to 6.8 per cent - the highest since 7.7 per cent in the year to October 2001.
The May increase came mainly from higher prices for fruit and vegetables (up 3.8 per cent), non-alcoholic beverages (up 2.6 per cent) and grocery food (up 0.5 per cent).
Over the year, grocery prices have risen 11.8 per cent.
Fresh milk has gone up 21.5 per cent, cheddar cheese up 59.4 per cent, bread up 13.9 per cent and butter up 80.1 per cent.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NZPA
