The price of diesel has fallen further and faster than petrol in the last six weeks and the general manager of Gull New Zealand says there may be further price falls.
Gull general manager Dave Bodger says he is confident that the pump price of Gull supplied diesel will not rise until after the New Year, and he told DIESELtalk this morning that in general most transport operators would be happy with the current price of diesel fuel.
“Our customers tend to be local people rather than the big fleets, as we don’t have the national coverage the other fuel retailers offer,” says Bodger.
“Our customers are the bigger farmers, agricultural contractors, and local transport operators who can access our pumps, use our credit facilities with their own fuelcard, and know they are getting a good price with 30 days to pay,” says Bodger. “They also don’t have to worry about pilfering from onsite storage or staff buying fuel without authorisation.”
The price of Gull Diesel has dropped below $1 per litre on December 21, for the first time in more than six years, due to falling international oil prices.
Gull says that its prices range from 79.9 cents per litre, at Orakei Marina in Auckland (boat access only) up to 99.9 cents per litre.
The average Gull price is 97.3 cents per litre. BP’s current national diesel price is 105.9.
“We look with interest at the numbers every day, and we like lower prices for the benefit of our customers,” says Bodger.
“I hate making predictions but I would think given the speed of the decrease that there may be further falls,” he says.
“But that could also suddenly change if there was an international incident that affected supply,” says Bodger.
The strong New Zealand dollar is also the friend of kiwi motorists and transport operators according to Allied Petroleum, which operates a growing network of fuel stops and supplies many provincial service stations nationally.
“Due to falling global oil prices, while the New Zealand dollar remains strong, kiwi motorists and transport operators are enjoying the lowest fuel prices seen for a number of years”, says Allied Petroleum marketing manager Brett Haldane.
BP also reduced its national price for diesel across company-owned stores five times in two weeks, off the back of easing European demand and a downwards trend in cost of product.
According to BP Communications and external affairs manager Shelley Brady, more than 14 cents has been taken off BP’s national diesel price since early December.
“Unfortunately we don’t know what the future will look like so we can’t speculate about future prices, but we have seen barrel prices for diesel and the Kiwi dollar remain relatively flat over the past few days,” says Brady.
“We monitor our prices every day and will pass through decreases whenever we can,” she says.
BP says it’s prices are based on a variety of different factors including – but not limited to – cost of product, exchange rates, taxes and operational costs.
Related earlier stories:
Diesel drops under $1 per litre
Fourth consecutive BP national diesel price reduction
