KEY POINTS:
The price of high-octane petrol topped $2 a litre for the first time yesterday, prompting the Automobile Association to call for the Government to intervene.
BP added 3c a litre to its prices, in a move that took 98 octane petrol to $2.03 a litre yesterday afternoon.
The "boutique" fuel was previously $199.9c a litre.
The company lifted 91 octane from $1.86 to $1.89 a litre and 95 to $1.94.
The milestones are the latest in four increases over four weeks that have added 11c a litre to the price of petrol.
BP also lifted its diesel price yesterday, from $1.52 a litre to $1.57. Diesel's price has risen 23c a litre in five increases over four weeks.
High-grade 98 octane fuel accounts for only a fraction of overall petrol sales in New Zealand, AA spokesman Mike Noon said yesterday.
A Consumer website report in 2005 said about 5 per cent of petrol engines may need a higher octane fuel than 95.
BP spokeswoman Diana Stretch said the increase was the result of international rises in the cost of crude oil, and refined petrol and diesel.
Chevron, owner of the Caltex brand in New Zealand, last night increased prices in Chevron-owned Caltex stations - about 10 per cent of the network - but had issued no bulletins to privately owned Caltex stations.
"We are watching the market very closely," said spokeswoman Sharon Buckland. "It's a very volatile market at the moment."
Shell spokeswoman Jackie Maitland said last night the company was holding firm and would be trying to keep its prices as they were - $1.85.9 a litre for 91, $1.91.9 for 95 and $1.51.9 for diesel.
Gull NZ general manager Dave Bodger said last night he found the price rises puzzling, as there did not appear to have been any major overseas fluctuations.
Gull would be discounting all its fuels by 5c a litre for 26 hours from 7am today, and Mr Bodger did not believe the company would need to follow competitors' price rises.
AA spokesman Mark Stockdale last night urged the Government to consider removing GST on petrol excise tax, a move it says could cut prices by more than 5c a litre.
The AA has previously said the Government should refund the money to motorists, or put the profits into the National Land Transport Programme, which pays for roads and public transport.
But a statement from Finance Minister Michael Cullen's office last night said the Government would not change the GST system, "as creating exemptions would add extra compliance costs for businesses which would be passed on to consumers".
A one-off change to GST would have had no effect against the "global forces" driving petrol prices.
"If the New Zealand Government had changed GST rules along these lines 12 months ago, no one would have even noticed as the benefits would have been wiped out almost immediately by the global rise in oil prices," the statement said.
Ms Stretch said petrol prices had jumped 17 per cent in the past month, and 4 per cent in the past week.
She would not be drawn on the likelihood of more price rises.
But Mr Stockdale demanded more transparency from oil companies in the way they fix fuel prices.
Blaming things such as commodity prices was not good enough, and companies needed to explain factors behind the rises "so the public can understand what is happening".
BP PRICES
PETROL UP 3C
* $1.89 - 91
* $1.94 - 95
* $2.03 - 98
UP 5C
* $1.57 - diesel
